


What's the Expiration Date on a Secret?

by First_page



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Peter Parker, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Sick Peter Parker, Spider-Man Identity Reveal, Steve Rogers Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Stony - Freeform, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:54:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 31,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27820081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/First_page/pseuds/First_page
Summary: Peter Parker has been living with his Aunt May and keeping the secret that he's Spider-man for what feels like forever, but when Spider-man unexpectedly runs into Tony Stark, his secret identity is almost impossible to hide. How long can he keep his secret?orTony Stark is living the dream; a multibillion dollar empire, a hot, caring boyfriend, and the celebrity status of a rock star. Who would have thought that all he was missing was a teenage superhero that desperately needs a father-figure (or two)?
Relationships: Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 72
Kudos: 361





	1. The Rescue

**Author's Note:**

> I just finished Nanowrimo (was literally writing my last 3,000 words last night to finish on time) and after writing 50,000 words in November this story was created. I'm kind of obsessed with Tony and Steve taking care of Peter like a son, but not in the traditional way, and I think Stony is adorable, so this is what I came up with. I hope you like it :D

Tony navigates his Ironman suit through the dimly lit streets and sighs. “FRIDAY, why is it so dark?”

Tony’s A.I. program responds with a robotic level of frustration. “Because it’s 2am Boss.”

Tony takes a sharp turn and fires up the afterburners for more speed. “I know that smarty pants. It’s just that it never gets dark in Midtown or the Lower East Side, or Uptown, or the Village –.”

FRIDAY cuts him off before he names every geographical region in New York City. “You are not currently in Manhattan. You are in Queens.”

Tony smirks. “Remind me never to chase criminals into this borough. If they make it past Brooklyn, let’s just consider them a lost cause.”

FRIDAY answers with a hint of a smirk. “I’m sure Captain Rogers will be thrilled to hear that.”

Tony laughs. “I don’t give a rat’s ass what Steve thinks about –.” He slams into a building.

He lays on his back and tries to catch his breath. “Well that was embarrassing. I kind of figured the automatic brakes would kick in.”

FRIDAY’s voice is filled with static. “It appears that your suit is no longer under your control. It’s taking all I have to override the commands that are currently being asked of me.”

Tony nods. “Understood. I have to detach the suit.”

FRIDAY tries to interject. “Boss, that’s not a good idea. I would not advise –.”

Tony feels his heartbeat rising. The thought of being trapped in a rouge suit is triggering the part of him that can’t handle losing control. Tony’s been a control freak most of his adult life, but after he was kidnapped and held captive in Afghanistan, any fear of losing control is panic attack inducing.

Tony can’t hear FRIDAY’s warning over the pounding of his heart. He slams a shaky hand over the middle of his chest. When the suit doesn’t automatically detach, Tony starts to panic even more. “FRIDAY, detach the suit now. I can’t… I can’t breathe. Just get it off me! _Get it off me!_ ”

FRIDAY reluctantly replies. “As you wish.”

The suit detaches and Tony falls to his hands and knees. He’s still gasping for breath and feels more vulnerable outside of the suit than inside. His eyes are closed but he can feel himself swaying back and forth as dizziness overwhelms him. His ears are ringing and if he doesn’t do something quick, he’s going to pass out right there in a random, dark, deserted alley in Queens.

The ringing fills his ears, but there’s just enough room left for FRDIAY’s voice. “Remain calm. Slow breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.” FRIDAY’s voice is replaced with a soft woodwind instrument playing a relaxing yoga melody.

Tony puts a finger against his left earbud and wheezes. “If you make me say om, I’m going to erase your hard drive.”

FRIDAY fires back. “Less sarcasm, more breathing.”

Tony is equally grateful and annoyed that he enabled FRIDAY to communicate with him outside of the suit. In theory it had seemed like a good idea to make his A.I have remote capabilities, but it also opened up the idea of him having someone that can tell him what to do, and Tony is not a fan of open dialogues.

Tony takes a few sharp breaths and wheezes. “Why didn’t you want me to take off the suit?”

“The main reason is that when the suit goes into sentient mode, there will be a point that you have a robot that is not under your control, pointing a palm laser at your head.”

Tony looks up and sees his suit aiming an open palm at him. His eyes drift from the laser to the helmet’s eyes and he sighs. “Yup. We’ve reached that point.”

The suit’s metallic voice starts giving orders. “Stand.”

Tony lifts his hands up in surrender, but stays on his knees. “Can we wait until my yoga session is over?”

The lifeless metal suit rotates it’s hand and smacks Tony across the face. Tony’s knocked from a kneeling position back to his hands and knees. He wipes away a warm trail of blood coming from his nose and snorts. “Is that all you’ve got?”

The rogue iron suit lifts it’s hand and curls it’s fingers, preparing for a punch, but a squeaky voice comes from over it’s shoulders. “Hey! Big guy! Over here! No fair picking on a guy without a suit.”

The Iron robot spins around and faces the new target. Tony squints and a blurry Spider-man comes into focus.

Tony had heard about the vigilante in a jumpsuit, but Spider-hero isn’t exactly on his radar, because Tony doesn’t do much superheroing in the Queens area.

Tony puts a finger against his earbud so he can hear better. “What are the chances that Spider-man can take the suit down?”

FRIDAY gives an assessment. “Slim to none. I’m trying to override the system as we speak. Now that you aren’t in the suit, I have enough time so I can set it to overheat.”

Spider-man dodges a punch and Tony cups his hands around his mouth to amplify the sound. “My tech just said that you can’t beat the suit.”

Spider-man takes a hard punch to the face, but smiles. “That cool, but don’t assume that Ironman would automatically win in a fight against me. This thing is being controlled by someone else. And I heard the nice lady’s voice in your ear. I know what to do.”

Spider-man takes another hard shot to the face before countering and using a web to swing out of punching distance.

Tony winces. “How long is the kid going to have to be a punching bag?”

FRIDAY hums. “Just another minute or so. I’m assuming he can hear me through your ear buds because of his enhanced hearing abilities.”

Spider-man has to keep the focus of the mind controlled suit away from Tony, so he has to keep the fight in relatively close contact. This doesn’t give him the distance that he needs to potentially win the fight, but when the suit corners him against the wall, things go from bad to worse.

Spider-man takes one punch after another and soon all he can do is use his hands to try to block the rapid assault. He had moved the fight far enough away from Tony to keep him from danger, but it also means that Tony can’t see what’s going on.

Spider-man feels himself losing consciousness, but tries to shake off the feeling so he can keep the distraction up long enough for FRIDAY to work her magic.

The suit has apparently lost patience and the next punch turns into the metal monster opening it’s palm and aiming a laser at Spider-man. The laser charges to full power and Spiderman whimpers. The Ironman suit is pining him against the wall so poor Spidey can’t move.

The bright glow of the laser is all Spider-man can see, but before it’s fired, the suit starts to spark and the glowing laser powers down until it shuts off.

The grip on Spiderman’s arm loosens and the suit splits apart into its individual red and gold pieces, before crumpling to the ground.

From Tony’s view, the billionaire Avenger sees the guy that came to rescue him about to faceplant onto the hard ground. He runs to intervene before that happens. Tony doesn’t have his suit on, but this kind of heroics is certainly possible sans the suit.

Tony gets to Spider-man just in time and the friendly neighborhood spider-man slumps down into Tony’s arms. The first thing Tony notices is that the hero is breathing more chaotically than Tony had been during his panic attack. The second thing Tony notices is that even though Spider-man is dead weight, he isn’t very heavy.

Tony rearranges Spider-man so that he’s seated but propped up against the wall. Tony reaches for the mask, but Spider-man moans softly. “No… don’t…”

Spider-man reaches up to grab Tony’s wrist, but grab is a generous word. The poor guy has barely enough strength to loosely put his fingers around Tony’s wrist.

Tony pauses from the unmasking. “You’re hurt. That suit was wailing on you for a good chunk of time. Your mask is probably full of blood. I have to take it off.”

“No. Please, please, _please_ don’t take it off. I can’t – my secret identity.”

Tony realizes that he’s making this worse and he’s certainly not prepared to remove that guy’s mask without consent. The more Spider-man weakly protests, the more guilty Tony feels.

Tony holds up his hands in surrender for the second time today. “Ok, ok. My hands are up here. I won’t take it off. You don’t want me to do it and I’m not an asshole.”

Instead of being grateful, Spider-man wheezes. “It’s hard to breathe.”

Tony winces. “Ok. I’m a genius. I can figure this out. FRIDAY, blur his face so when I take off his mask, I won’t be able to see him.”

FRIDAY answers flatly. “That’s not a thing, Tony. You can’t go pixelating people in real life.”

Tony puts a hand on Spider-man’s shoulder. “Ok, new plan. I’ll close my eyes and you can take the mask off. I promise I won’t look.”

Spider-man wheezes. “You’re asking me to put a lot of trust in you.”

Tony sighs. “Yeah, well, full disclosure, if I were in your position, I wouldn’t trust me either, but I’m a paranoid, cynical, jaded old man. You, on the other hand, are young, so there’s hope for you.”

Spider-man nods and Tony close his eyes. After a few moments, Tony hears the unmasked hero take a deep breath of unobstructed, fresh air.

Tony takes a long exhale too. He hadn’t realized he was holding it.

Spider-man’s voice is louder now that the mask isn’t obscuring the sound. “Keep your eyes closed.”

Tony smirks. “Tony Stark doesn’t take orders, he gives them.”

Tony’s hand is still on Spider-man’s shoulder, so he feels the kid tense and hears him take a sharp inhale.

Tony rushes through the next sentence. “Shit, don’t panic. I was just joking. I’m not going to look kid, ok? Your secret’s safe.”

Tony feels the tension in Spider-man’s shoulder relax slightly.

Tony sighs. “Ok, now that trust has been re-established. Why don’t you tell me your name, kid?”

Spider-man’s voice is shaking, but Tony can’t tell if it’s because he’s nervous, or that he’s starting to go into shock. “What makes you think I’m a kid?”

Tony takes a relaxing sigh. A conversation means that the kid is starting to trust him. “Well for one, your voice cracks too much to be an adult.”

Tony can tell Spider-man’s blushing even though his eyes are closed.

Tony continues. “And for two, when you weren’t able to stand and I had to take your full weight, you were maybe a teeny bit heavier than a feather.”

Spider-man coughs and it’s a watery, loose cough that makes Tony cringe. “Yeah, well this featherweight saved you from being stomped to death by your own suit.”

Tony laughs. “Yeah, well I didn’t get to the part where I say thank you yet.”

“You still haven’t.”

Tony lifts an eyebrow. “I need a name if I’m going to thank you.”

Spider-man grunts as Tony feels him shifting into a better position. “It’s not like you’re giving me an autograph. You don’t need my name...” He pauses. “… and if I tell you, um, you might figure out who I am.”

Tony softens his grip on Spiderman’s shoulder. “I’m not trying to out you kid, I just want to call you something less generic than Spider-man.”

The voice crack resurfaces again. “You know that I’m Spider-man? I didn’t think an Avenger like you would know that Spider-man even exists. This is so awesome.”

Tony can’t help but smile when he hears Spider-man’s real personality coming through.

The smile must relax Spider-man because his voice is quiet but clear. “My name is, um… it’s Peter.”

Tony smirks. “FRIDAY, how many Peters are there in Queens, New York?”

FRIDAY answers instantly. “5,116 Peters, 1,435 Pedros, and 308 Pierres reside in Queens, New York.”

Peter gives a soft laugh. “What makes you think that I don’t commute?”

Tony laughs. “Spidey takes the subway?”

Peter shifts under Tony’s hand again. “I use my webbing to swing in from Jersey.”

Tony can’t help but respond with a loud, long laugh. He doesn’t know much about Spider-man, but from what he had heard in the past, the crime fighter is quick witted with his enemies. It’s that kind of humor that has Tony unable to stop laughing.

Tony catches his breath from the best laugh he’s had in days.

Tony feels Peter shift again. “I think I need some help standing. Once I’m on my feet, I think I can make it back home.”

FRIDAY answers instead of Tony. “I would not advise walking home. You have multiple broken ribs, three broken fingers, and a concussion. Not to mention that your heart is beating erratically, and you are experiencing mild double vision. You may have other serious conditions, but I can only access a few of my scanning programs through Mr. Stark’s suit without reactivating it again and causing a potential danger.”

Peter answers the electronic mother. “Um, I’m ok. I just need a minute to get myself together.”

Tony sighs. “I’ve heard that from Steve enough times to know that it’s never true.”

Peter whispers. “He just compared me to Captain America.”

Tony figures that Peter didn’t mean to say that out loud, so he shifts the conversation away from his All-American boyfriend. “Look, Pete. You saved my life so I’m not going to let you die alone, in an alley.”

Peter grunts. “That’s being a little overdramatic.”

Tony tries a different tactic. “FRIDAY, Peter isn’t able to walk on his own with broken ribs. How long does it take for a person to get eaten alive by rats?”

FRIDAY usually doesn’t tell false facts, but she plays along with Tony this once. “Oh, I’d guess about 30 minutes give or take. Considering that there’s a cluster of them just across the street in the other alley, camped out inside the grouping of trash cans.”

Peter whimpers. “Ok, I get it. I’ll come with you, but I have to put my mask back on. I don’t want you to see me Mr. Stark.”

Tony assumes that Peter had just called him Mr. Stark because that’s what FRIDAY had referred to him as a minute ago. He’s not sure why, but it makes him smile.

After a few moments Tony prepares to open his eyes again. “Are you all masked up, kiddo?”

Peter clears his throat. “Um, no. I don’t think I can put it on. I’m kind of feeling sick and I don’t want to throw up in the mask.”

FRIDAY offers another status report. “At the moment Peter is severely nauseous due to his concussion and the blood that he has swallowed from the fight.”

Peter moans. “That’s really not helping FRIDAY.”

Tony’s genius brain starts to work out a solution to the problem. The suit isn’t operational so Tony can’t quite fly the kid home, and calling in a new suit might just give the mystery hacker that hijacked his first suit another shot at killing them both.

His best bet is to take the kid to a safe place and wait for his driver, Happy, to arrive. He remembered seeing a diner a little ways from the alley when he flew past earlier.

Tony fishes through his pocket and plucks out a pair of sunglasses. He reaches his hand out in the general direction of Peter’s soft whimpers. Broken ribs make breathing extremely painful, and Tony had noticed a while ago that Peter’s labored breathing was peppered with an occasional soft whimper here and there, but he pretended not to notice so that he wouldn’t embarrass Peter.

Peter takes the sunglasses and Tony nods. “Put those on. It’s not much, but it will hide your identity when I open my eyes.”

Peter’s words are through gritted teeth at this point. “I have a hoodie in my backpack. Can you help me get it?”

Tony crawls on his hands and knees as Peter verbally guides him to the backpack. When Tony retrieves it, he brings the bag back to Peter.

Tony winces as Peter lets out a few groans of pain as the kid slips into the hoodie.

Eventually Peter mumbles. “I’m ready.” And Tony finally opens his eyes.

It takes a few moments for Tony’s eyes to readjust to his surroundings. The alleyway is just as dimly lit as he had remembered it was before he had closed his eyes. Because of this, it doesn’t take too long to bring his eyes into focus.

Peter has the sunglasses and hoodie on, but he also had taken the time to put on a pair of jeans over the superhero suit and a pair of unlaced sneakers on his feet.

Tony sighs as he ties Peter’s shoelaces. “Ok, so here’s the plan. We’re going to have Happy pick us up at the diner. FRIDAY, text Happy the location and tell him to meet us there.”

“Sure Boss.”

Peter puts an arm around Tony as the man helps him stand. “Is Happy another one of your robots?”

Tony laughs as he gets Peter on his feet. “Happy’s my bodyguard. Honest to god, that’s really his name.”

Peter starts the slow assisted walk to the diner. “I’m glad that’s not my name. I’m pretty sure there’s like, one Happy in all of New York.”

~~~

Peter looks across the table at Tony. Due to Peter’s current state, a booth seems like a more comfortable seating arrangement compared to the bar stools.

The diner is filled with an almost blinding amount of light that all 24-hour diners have. Peter squints from the brightness of the almost solar lighting, but he also squints from the pain coming from his ribs. His injuries have already started healing because of his enhanced abilities, but he knows from prior experience that ribs take a long time to heal, even with his enhanced advantage.

He wraps an arm around his painful ribcage and wants to moan out loud, but he opts to keep bouncing his leg, like he’s been doing for the last 20 minutes.

He’s pulled away from his inner suffering by Tony’s voice. “It’s almost three in the morning and traffic still sucks.”

Peter adjusts his borrowed sunglasses, but keeps his head down.

Tony continues his one-sided conversation. “If you keep looking like I just kidnapped you, I might get carried out of here by the police.”

That’s enough to get Peter to look up. “They aren’t going to arrest Tony Stark. I’m pretty sure everyone in the city knows who you are.”

Tony raises an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure even _I_ don’t get a pass on kidnapping young boys.”

Peter glances back at the table. “I’m not that young.”

Tony doesn’t miss a beat. “How young are you?”

Peter doesn’t miss a beat either. “So you can narrow the Peter search to include age?”

Tony smirks. “Well right now it’s Peters between the ages of 12 and 18.”

Peter’s eyes dart up and his voice squeaks. “Twelve?!”

Tony smirks wider. “It just narrowed down to 13 - 18.”

Peter starts laughing, but he quickly cuts it of by biting his lip. Tony had just tricked him in hilarious fashion, but Peter’s ribs can’t withstand a laugh at the moment. He closes his eyes and starts to bounce his knees faster as the pain fills his chest.

Tony clears his throat. “So, I think I’m going to take a trip to the Men’s room. Too much coffee. I’ll be back.”

He stands up and tosses his earbuds on the table. “While I’m gone you can listen to some music to calm you down. Just name a song and FRIDAY will play it.”

Peter looks at the empty coffee mug across from him. He’s positive that Tony’s trip to the restroom is just an excuse to let Peter have some alone time to let his guard down. Peter takes the opportunity and lets a tear fall. When it falls down further than the rim of the sunglasses, he wipes it away with the back of his hand.

He reaches for Tony’s earbuds and puts them in his ears. Maybe a little music can get his mind off the sharp pain radiating from his chest.

He taps the left ear bud and whispers. “FRIDAY?”

“Yes Peter?”

Peter bites his lip. “Um, Tony doesn’t know who I am, but do you?”

There’s a short pause before she answers. “I do not have the ability to close my eyes, so when you dropped in to save the day, I automatically ran a full facial recognition. I indeed know that you are Peter Parker.”

Peter winces. “Are you go to tell Tony?”

“I’ve run a full background check on you, Peter, and you don’t pose a threat to Mr. Stark, so I don’t feel the need to inform him.”

Peter smiles. “Thank you.”

“You are most welcome, Peter. But rest assured, when you feel the need to tell Tony who you are, I am more than confident that he will keep your secret.”

Peter chews on his lip. “If I tell him, he will be the first person that I’ve ever told.”

Peter’s super hearing picks up on the sound of approaching footsteps so he quickly removes the ear buds.

Tony reaches the table and sits down. “Are you sure that you don’t want anything to drink? I’ll pay for it.”

Peter nods. “I appreciate it, but I’m ok.”

Tony waves the waitress over and she refills his coffee mug. The strong smell of coffee mixes with Peter’s enhanced sense of smell and the kid starts to feel a little queasy.

When the waitress leaves, Peter pushes the queasy feeling aside, and smirks. “You might want to go easy on the coffee. You’re going to have to make another trip to the bathroom before our ride gets here.”

Tony takes a sip and looks over the top of the mug. “Do you think I’m going to need to?”

The way that Tony says it makes the tears reform in Peter’s eyes. The hidden meaning of ‘if you need another minute alone, I’ll head out’ is too much for Peter and his eyes shake with effort to keep the tears from falling. For the moment Tony doesn’t know that Peter is crying because of the shield of the sunglasses, and Peter tries desperately to keep it that way.

Tony concentrates on his mug again and Peter takes a shaky breath.

Tony’s phone buzzes and Peter almost jumps through the ceiling. Tony gives him a little chuckle and looks at the text message. Tony hums as he stands and reaches into his pocket. “Happy’s here. Let’s get going.”

Tony tosses a handful of money and the tip on the table and chugs the rest of the coffee. He helps Peter stand and helps the kid walk out of the diner.

Happy’s at the door of the diner with his arms crossed. He starts to scold Tony. “I told you not to do anything that would bring you bad publicity. Carrying a half dead kid out of a random diner at 3 in the morning isn’t what I had in mind.”

Tony helps Peter into the back seat and walks around the other side of the car to get in. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch. There aren’t any paparazzi here and that diner was emptier than the beginning of a horror film. I almost expected a serial killer to pop out of the kitchen.”

Happy returns to the driver’s seat and closes the door. He turns the key in the ignition and sighs. “Kid, if you need me to pull over, just let me know.”

Tony smirks. “Since when have you started calling me kid?”

Happy frowns. “I was talking to – you know what? Go to hell.”

Tony laughs, but his attention quickly shifts to Peter. The kid is curled in on himself and shaking.

Tony is far from affectionate, but even _he_ can tell that Peter needs some kind of comfort. Tony starts with words. “Kiddo, I know you’re in pain, but when we get to the tower, Bruce can give you some for his super painkillers. You know, the kind that he gives Steve.”

Peter sniffs. “I’m ok. I’m just a little cold.”

Tony smirks. “Liar says what?”

Peter groans in pain. “Tony…”

Tony gasps. “What is it?”

Peter smirks. “I got you to say what.”

Tony scowls. “You know what? Fuck you, kid.”

Happy clears his throat. “Never say that Boss. That’s never appropriate in front of a kid.”

Peter hugs himself tighter and grunts. “It’s cool. I kind of deserved it.”

Tony looks at the suffering teen next to him. “Seriously though. Are you feeling, ok?”

Peter gives a silent nod and Tony clears his throat. “Is it alright if I touch you?”

Happy clears his throat again. “That’s also on the ‘don’t say’ list.”

Tony rolls his eyes, but Peter answers Tony’s question by leaning on his shoulder. It’s the closest that Tony has come to a hug in months from someone other than Steve. Tony’s muscles tense at the unexpected touch, but when he feels Peter trembling against his shoulder, Tony’s paternal instincts kick in and he relaxes so Peter can rest his head on his chest.

Tony wraps his arm around Peter’s back and rubs small circles.

Happy looks at Tony from the windshield mirror and raises an eyebrow.

Tony smirks. “I saw it in a movie once.”

Happy smiles and swings his eyes back to the road.

Peter almost instantly falls asleep in this position and Tony can’t help but smile. The human pillow tries to scroll through his phone, but the light from the screen keeps waking Peter up.

Peter wakes up for a second, lets out a painful whimper before drifting back to sleep, for the third time. Tony sighs as he tosses his phone to the side.

Tony looks out of the window for a while, but eventually sighs in frustration. Peter has rolled onto Tony’s arm, trapping it in an awkward position. Tony had tried to ignore it at first, but his poor arm has fallen asleep right along with Peter.

Tony continues to ignore his numb hand, and eventually Peter shifts in his sleep and Tony un-traps his hand. He wiggles his fingers to try to bring back the circulation and as the pins and needles crawl up his arm, Peter moans in his own type of pain.

Tony offers a gentle. “Shh. It’s ok. Go back to sleep.” But Peter tenses. He feels Peter moan against his chest before sitting up.

Tony misses the warmth on his chest, but his warm and fuzzy feelings turn to concern when he sees Peter put a fist against his mouth.

Tony says what Peter can’t at the moment. “Hap, pull over. I think the kid needs to throw up.”

Happy gives an answer that no one wants to hear. “I can’t we’re in the tunnel.”

Tony looks out of the window and sure enough the orange lights that line the walls of the Midtown Tunnel, race past as Happy speeds through the roadway.

Peter burps against his fist and moans. “This is gonna suck.”

Tony shakes his head. “Don’t throw up yet.”

Peter winces. “I’ll try but can’t hold it in much longer. I apologize in advance about your car.”

Happy snorts. “It’s not the first time that someone lost their lunch in the backseat. Tony used to do it all the time during his party boy phase. This interior has been power washed more times than I can count.”

Tony frowns. “I’m not worried about the car Pete, I’m worried about you. I used to get stupid drunk on a nightly rotation, but I didn’t have broken ribs when I puked my brains out.” Tony turns his attention to his A.I. “FRIDAY, is he going to pierce a lung or something?”

Peter is literally bouncing in his seat trying to hold back everything until FRIDAY gives an answer.

FRIDAY’s voice comes through the radio instead of the earbuds. “Hold one hand on the front of his chest and one hand on his back. Give it a firm squeeze while he vomits so it acts like a corset. The tighter the better. It’s still going to hurt, but the odds of him rupturing something internally are far lower.”

Tony does as FRIDAY instructs and braces Peter. Poor Peter is on his knees with one hand on the seat back in front of him, and one hand in a fist over his mouth.

Tony nods. “Go ahead.”

Peter doesn’t need to be told a second time. He moans before coughing up breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He follows the forceful spewing of acidic liquid with a painful groan.

Happy puts his foot down on the gas pedal a little harder as the car speeds up. “How’s it going back there?”

Tony winces as Peter starts round two. “The kid sounds like he’s coughing up all of his internal organs, but thankfully it just sounds like that. All organs are still on the inside.”

Hap nods. “Good. Let’s keep it that way.”

Peter whimpers.

Tony feels his heart breaking for the kid that he met a few hours ago. Tony has no idea what Peter looks like and he’s only 95% convinced that Peter is his real name.

All that being said, he feels a wide range of emotions.

He feels an overwhelming sense of relief when Peter finishes the final round of vomiting.

He feels terrible for Peter when Happy insists that they keep the windows open to cut down on the smell. He can tell that Peter is mortified.

He feels a swelling sense of happiness when Peter relaxes enough to lay back on his chest.

He doesn’t even mind it when Peter rolls over his arm and traps it again.

He smiles at the stranger that has somehow gotten through his armor and is resting against his heart.

He tries one more time to unsuccessfully free his arm, but gives up and mumbles to himself with a smile.

 _How the hell did this happen?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading the first chapter! It was pretty long because it was originally 2 chapters, but in the end I kind of felt it worked better as one. I'm going to try to upload on Tuesdays and Saturdays. I'd love to hear what you think in the comments so feel free to chat with me :) Oh, I'm not the best with typos so if you see anything crazy please let me know and I'll fix it lol.


	2. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story continues :)

Tony runs his hand through his hair as he leans back in his kitchen chair. “… and then he threw up all over the floor.”

Steve continues eating his pizza slice, but his chewing slows down.

Tony smirks. “It was everywhere. He was like a volcano of regurgitated gooey vomit.”

Steve pauses mid-bite to collect himself, and continues to devour his meal.

Tony rolls his eyes. “I thought the retelling of Peter puking his brains out, would be enough to derail the pizza express.”

Steve shakes his head as he takes another slice. “There are few things that can come between me and a slice of pizza.”

Tony smirks. “That sounds like a challenge. Are you a fan of mucus?”

Steve swallows hard, but thankfully Bruce walks into the room. “Nobody’s a fan of mucus Tony.”

Tony’s gross-out-Steve challenge takes a back seat for a minute. Tony tries to keep his voice even, so his friends don’t tease him, even though his heart is pounding. “How’s the kid?”

Bruce sits in the remaining empty chair and takes a slice of pizza. “He’s embarrassed and scared, but he covers it up with sarcasm. He reminds me a little bit of you.”

Tony raises an eyebrow. “I was asking about his physical health, but feel free to give me your unqualified psychiatric opinions as well.”

Bruce takes the layer of cheese off the slice, and proceeds to eat the cheese first.

Tony frowns. “What the hell, Bruce?”

Bruce shrugs. “Some people eat the crust first and some people fold their slices in half. I like to eat the cheese first. There’s no wrong way to eat a pizza.”

Tony shakes his head. “There is absolutely a wrong way to eat it. Stripping your pizza naked before eating it like a psychopath is the fucking wrong way to eat it.”

Steve gives Tony a disapproving look as he devours another slice.

Tony smirks. “You might want to slow down there Steve before you give yourself indigestion. 4am pizza will do that to you. Back in my old college days, I used to eat whole pizzas in my dorm room after getting stoned out of my freakin’ mind. Those were the days.”

Steve smiles. “I appreciate that you censored yourself and said freakin’.”

Tony winks. “I only did it so you can do something naughty with me tonight as a prize.”

Steve turns bright red and stops chewing.

Tony laughs and points. “So _that’s_ the thing that will get you to stop eating.”

Bruce is Tony’s best friend, so the good doctor knows that Tony and Steve are dating. The only other person that knows is Bucky because he’s Steve’s best friend.

Steve’s eyes shift from Tony to Bruce, and the supersoldier changes the subject quickly. “So, is Peter going to be alright?”

Bruce nods. “Yeah, he’ll live. He has a healing factor that’s almost as quick as yours. But even with that super skill, ribs are always a slow heal. I gave him some of your pain meds for that. He had a few broken fingers that I reset, and he can sleep off the concussion. I’m pretty sure he has a black eye, but I couldn’t treat it. He was really scared about his secret identity so he wouldn’t take off the hood or the shades that Tony gave him. FRIDAY did a scan and I have to trust that it’s accurate.”

FRIDAY chimes in. “My report is accurate to one hundredth of a percent Dr. Banner. Can you say the same about your diagnoses?”

Bruce’s eyes dart from left to right. “Where is that coming from?”

Tony taps his StarkWatch. “Never doubt my technology.”

Steve takes a swig of Coke and furrows his eyebrows. “All joking aside, is harboring this kid the best idea? If he really is a kid, he probably has a family that’s worried about him. He hasn’t gone back home in at least a day’s time by now.”

Bruce continues to eat the triangle piece of cheese that he removed from the pizza. “I asked him about his family, and he said he texted them and everything’s taken care of.”

Steve raises an eyebrow.

Bruce nods. “Yeah, I didn’t believe him either.”

Tony runs his hands through his hair again. “Look, I can’t have FRIDAY run a background check to tell me who he is, behind his back.”

Steve’s eyes soften. “No one’s suggesting that, Tony.”

Tony rubs his temples. “Then what _are_ you suggesting Steve?”

Steve takes another slice of pizza and shrugs.

Tony smirks. “Ok, Steve’s plan is to eat himself into a pizza induced coma. Bruce? Do you have anything to offer?”

Bruce starts to eat the dough part of the pizza. “We’ve all got secrets. Doesn’t mean the kid can’t be trusted.”

Steve cuts in. “He saved your life, Tony. That counts for something. He might not be on the level, but the least we can do is let him stay here for the night.”

Tony lifts himself to stand. “I’ll check on him.”

Steve shakes his head. “No. I’ll do it.”

Tony smirks. “You’re so sexy when you take charge.”

Steve gives Tony a glare, but the glare turns into an eyebrow wiggle when Bruce looks away.

Steve heads to the guest room that Peter’s staying in. The door is open but Steve knocks anyway.

Peter’s soft voice travels through the darkness. “Come in.”

Steve feels his way through the dark room until his shin hits the end of the bed. Steve winces as he sits down on the edge of the bed. “I thought you’d be asleep.”

Peter smirks. “You like to watch people sleeping? That was never mentioned in the Captain America exhibit.”

Steve smiles. “I just came here to introduce myself. I’m Captain Rogers. You can call me Steve or Cap if you want.”

Peter swallows loudly. “I can tell that you don’t trust me. I don’t blame you. Tony only met me, like a few hours ago. To be honest, I’m not sure why I saved him. I usually defend the little guy, and he definitely isn’t the little guy.”

“So why did you?”

The room is completely black, and Steve can’t see more than a vague silhouette of Peter, but he can almost see the twinkle in Peter’s eyes. “I guess the obvious answer is that he would have died if I didn’t step up to help. But it was weird. Even when Tony’s suit was beating me down, I didn’t even think about running away. I just wanted to make sure that Tony was safe. I was prepared to let that suit beat me to death if it meant that Tony would be safe.”

Steve smiles. “I happen to know a little bit about jumping on a grenade for someone. Even if it’s for someone you don’t know.”

Peter’s voice cracks. “It’s not that I don’t like you guys, or that I want to lie, it’s just… I can’t let anyone know who I am.”

Steve slowly stands. “We can deal with that in the morning. Get some sleep, heal up, and we can square that away tomorrow.”

Peter nods. “Ok, but is Tony mad at me?”

Steve laughs. “Let me deal with Tony.”

Peter nods again. “Good night sir.”

“Good night Peter.”

Steve walks back to the kitchen and sees that not only are Bruce and Tony no longer there, but the pizza box is nowhere to be found. Steve sighs as he heads to Tony’s bedroom.

Tony’s master bedroom is the definition of luxury. There’s a giant flat screen TV that rises up from the floor, a massive aquarium that spans the whole east wall of the room, and a fireplace. Tony’s bed has room for at least four Captain Rogers sized men and the sheets are the softest material known to man. Tony had boasted about that last fact, but Steve isn’t sure if it’s trustworthy.

Just like he did for Peter, Steve knocks before entering.

Tony is sitting in the middle of the bed, drowning in pillows. He looks up from scrolling on his phone and smirks. “If only you’d look at me the way you looked at that pizza.”

Steve blinks. “You want me to look at you like I want to go back for seconds?”

Tony hums. “And they say that Captain America doesn’t know how to flirt.”

Steve sits on the bed and smirks. “Who says that?”

Tony shrugs. “Doesn’t matter. Before we get distracted by staring deeply into each other’s eyes, how was Peter? Did he try to stab you in the back when you turned away?”

Steve laughs. “Nope. No attempted homicide. He’s just adjusting to his first night at the Avenger’s hotel.”

Tony cracks his neck. “You’re right about the hotel part. I think I need to start charging rent for some of these freeloaders.”

Steve climbs under the covers and puts his head on Tony’s shoulder. Tony groans. “This feels familiar. The next part involves throwing up.”

Steve rubs his hand soothingly over Tony’s stomach.

Tony relaxes into the touch and hums. “Just like that Baby. Just a rub a little lower to work out all of the gas.”

Steve sighs. “This is supposed to be comforting. Would it kill you to drop the sarcasm? Just once?”

Tony ruffles Steve’s hair. “Don’t pretend that my sarcasm isn’t the thing you like the most about me.”

Steve snorts. “It is definitely not the trait I like the most.”

Tony smirks. “Once you’re done here, I can return the favor. That pizza belly probably needs a good rub down.”

Steve closes his eyes. “Can’t you be romantic for a second?”

Tony frowns. “I can be romantic.”

Steve yawns. “You wouldn’t know romance if it was literally rubbing you on the stomach.”

Tony nods. “I see what you did there.”

Steve’s response is light snoring.

Tony gives Steve a kiss on the top of the head and snuggles in closer.

He rolls his eyes and mutters. “The guy that’s begging for romance is the first one to fall asleep. Typical.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to show more of Tony and Steve's relationship in this chapter, but don't worry, it's rated T so it never gets crazy lol. The next chapter will be posted Tuesday and it's extremely Irondad. I hope you still like the story and thanks again for reading :)  
> P.S. When I was really young, I ate the cheese first. Sometimes I still do.


	3. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another day filled with heart breaking emotion and heart stopping action. It's the typical day of a superhero :)

Tony puts his metal face shield down as he turns on the blow torch. The sound of welding metal mixes with almost deafening levels of rock metal music, turning Tony’s lab into a whirr of activity.

He continues to fix the broken parts of his suit from yesterday’s battle damage while whistling along to the song. When the track gets to Tony’s favorite part, he turns off the flame, puts the blow torch down, and the meticulous hands of an engineer turn into the hands of a drummer. He balls his hands into fists and the thick, fireproof gloves that he’s wearing grip imaginary drumsticks as he beats an imaginary air drum. He continues his air drum solo as the music swells.

The music reaches its full crescendo and Tony drums away, like his life depends on it. The guitars come back in and Tony the drummer turns back to Tony the engineer/mechanic. He picks up the blow torch again and goes back to work.

Before the song ends, the volume lowers automatically, and FRIDAY interrupts. “Intruder approaching the lab.”

Tony turns off the flame and pushes his shield up. “It’s 8 in the morning so Cap should still be face-down, sleeping like a rock. That only leaves Spider-kid.”

FRIDAY confirms it. “It is indeed Peter.”

Tony takes off his gloves and metal shield. “Tell him that he can come in.”

A moment later Peter appears. He’s still wearing his black sweatpants that Tony gave him to sleep in, but he’s also wearing his trademark hoodie with the hood pulled up. Peter looks over at Tony. The kid is wearing the shades that Tony had loaned him. Loaned is probably the wrong word because Tony knows he’ll never get the sunglasses back at this point, they’re officially Peter’s now.

Tony smirks. “I think we might have to change your name from Spider-man to Hoodie-man.”

Peter sits on one of Tony’s workbenches, keeping his distance, but close enough to have a conversation. “I’m sorry I interrupted you. You can go back to work. Just pretend I’m not here.”

Tony shakes his head. “I hate to break it to you kid, but as obsessed as you are about making yourself invisible, you are actually very much on the visible portion of the light spectrum.”

Peter looks down at his feet. “I honestly thought you’d be asleep.”

Tony shakes his head again. “Most nights I don’t get more than 4 hours. My brain doesn’t want to go into hibernation mode for longer than that. It’s one of the downsides to having the single greatest mind of the 21st century.”

Peter hops off the lab bench and walks over to the white board. He points at the long equation that Tony has scrawled out across the entire surface.

Tony sighs. “I’ve been working on that equation for about 3 months. I can’t quite solve it.”

Peter nods and uses his sleeve to erase a number two and replaces it with a five.

Tony smirks and shakes his head. “Nope, but nice try.”

Peter’s smile is slightly visible under his hooded disguise. “That would have been crazy if I accidentally solved it.”

Tony laughs. “It’s going to take more than switching a two with a five. But you did pinpoint the part of the equation that I’m having trouble with. That means you either randomly changed that part, or you have a scientific mind.”

Peter clears his throat. “I’m a science major at college.”

Tony raises an eyebrow. He’s not sure if Peter had made a mistake and admitted that he goes to college, or if he’s just trying to trick Tony with a false clue.

Tony approaches the subject carefully so that he doesn’t push Peter back into one-word answer territory. “A science major? Are we talking rocket science and mechanical engineering? Am I looking at the future competitor to Stark Enterprises? Because if Spider-man is going to put me out of business, I have no problem kicking you out of my house and back onto the streets.”

Peter laughs. “I’m not coming for your title as greatest mind of the century or whatever you called yourself. I’m not studying engineering. I’m more into biophysics. I spend a lot of time in the chemistry lab synthesizing my webbing fluid.”

Tony smirks. “I believe the part about liking science, but I’m still not sold on the fact that you’re college-aged.”

“Maybe I got into college when I turned 15 like you did.”

Tony laughs. “Touché, kid.”

Peter hops back onto the lab bench, but instead of answering, his stomach growls loudly.

Tony feels his paternal side firing up again. “Are you hungry?”

Peter shakes his head quickly, telegraphing the blush on his face.

Tony sighs. “Captain Sleepy head is the cooking part of our domestic duo, and he isn’t going to drag his sorry butt out of bed any time before noon.” He nudges his head toward the northwest corner of the lab. “I have a coffee maker over there. You drink coffee?”

Peter nods his head as unconvincingly as he had lied about not being hungry.

Tony walks over to the coffeemaker and Peter follows behind. Tony opens the lid to the coffeemaker. “How do you take your coffee?”

Peter shrugs. “It doesn’t matter.”

Tony tosses a French roast k-cup pod into the machine. “It doesn’t matter? That’s proof right there that you don’t drink coffee. Steve isn’t a fan either, so I’ll make yours like I make his; sweet, with more cream than coffee.”

Peter watches the machine spring to life. “How do you take yours?”

“Black. I drink it more for the caffeine buzz than the taste.”

Peter nods. “Maybe that’s why you only sleep for 4 hours a night.”

Tony laughs as he finishes brewing the coffee. “You sound like Bruce. Maybe you should switch your major from biophysics to medicine at Faketown University.”

Tony hands Peter the overly sweetened mug of coffee. Peter takes a tentative sip, that’s followed by an “Mmm.”

Tony leans against the back of the table and reaches for his own lukewarm coffee that he had made a while ago. “I’m all for coffee and awkward silence, but I’m pretty sure that’s not why you came down here.”

Peter shivers, even though he’s drinking the hot liquid. “It’s embarrassing, but I guess this is a secret that I can actually tell you. I kind of had a nightmare and um, I got scared. That’s really lame, right?”

Tony shakes his head. “Not at all. Steve has nightmares all the time because of his PTSD. And to be honest, I’ve had a few of my own. I don’t talk about it much, but right after I got back from Afghanistan, I used to have horrible nightmares every night. I’d wake up in a puddle of sweat, gasping for breath.”

Peter’s voice is soft. “That’s probably why you don’t sleep more than 4 hours.”

Tony’s hand starts to shake. “Yeah, I guess that’s the real reason.”

Tony feels Peter’s fingers wrap around his own.

Tony absolutely hates being touched. The only person he lets entertain the thought is Steve. But something about the way Peter offers the silent form of reassurance actually makes Tony squeeze Peter’s hand instead of pulling away.

Tony is filled with too many emotions and instead of offering a “thank you son”, he deflects with humor. “I thought that your hand would be sticky.”

Peter laughs. “The webbing comes from my web shooters, but I can cling to surfaces and crawl on the ceiling if I want to. It’s due to electron exchange with the surface and my hands. That’s what causes the attraction.”

Tony nods. “How did you figure that out?”

“I googled, how do spiders stick to the ceiling.”

Peter and Tony enjoy their liquid breakfast and then get to work. The project for the day is upgrading Peter’s suit. Tony admits that the design and function are exceptional, especially for a kid that doesn’t have access to a multimillion dollar lab, put there is room for improvement.

The two geniuses spend the morning upgrading the original cotton material to an evenweave fabric that’s only available to the military. Tony also installs an in-suit A.I. component like FRIDAY., that Peter decides to name Karen.

Peter resists the computer aid at first because he claims Tony will just use it to either find out his secret identity or stalk him, but Tony insists that FRIDAY likes Peter more than him already, so any new A.I. system will be more than loyal to Peter.

When the suit is finished Tony tells Peter to try it on, and Peter heads happily to the lab bathroom to get changed.

Tony sits back in his chair and kicks his feet up on the lab bench to celebrate his accomplishments. His eyes casually scan the room, but they stop when he spots Peter’s phone on the desk across from him.

He lets his eyes settle on the forgotten piece of property, but he’s interrupted by FRIDAY. “Don’t.”

Tony smirks. “Don’t what?”

“I know what you’re thinking, Boss. Don’t do it.”

Tony’s feet are off the table, but he’s still seated. “I didn’t know that your software included mindreading.”

FRIDAY answers with a hint of a smirk. “Your resting heart rate, breathing pattern, and perspiration levels are all elevated well above normal. Your neuropathways are firing off more than a Fourth of July fireworks show. I know what you’re planning.”

Tony closes his eyes and leans back in his chair. Not looking at the phone removes temptation. “I was right. You like the kid more than me. I don’t know if I’m comfortable with being your second favorite.”

“Captain Rogers is my second favorite. You rank a far distant third.”

Tony hums. “I love you too FRI.”

Tony keeps his eyes closed until FRIDAY informs him that Peter is back in the room. Tony opens his eyes, and sees Peter standing in front of him in a very professional looking Spider-man suit.

Tony smiles in approval. “You look great, kid.”

The phone that Peter had left unattended on the table, starts to ring and almost vibrates off the table. Peter grabs the phone before it falls because of his quick spider reflexes, and shoves it in his backpack. “That was my alarm. I gotta go. I can’t be late to school again – uh, I mean late to class. College class.”

Tony smirks.

Peter swings his backpack over his shoulder and runs out of Tony’s workshop. He calls out over his shoulder. “Thanks for the suit upgrade Mr. Stark. I’ll um, I’ll talk to you later.”

Tony nods. “Sure kid. Have fun at college class, because that’s definitely what I called it when I was in college.”

Tony puts his metal face shield back on and slips on his work gloves. “Crank up the music FRIDAY.”

~~~~~

Peter rummages through his locker. He knows that his Chemistry book is somewhere in there, but for some reason once he puts things in his locker it’s like a blackhole. It’s the end of the school day so Peter is more than anxious to find the book so he can go home.

As the search and rescue mission for the book continues to fail, Peter wishes that the lie he told Tony a few hours ago about being in college were true. Instead, he is ending his high school day like he always does, digging through his locker, looking for buried treasure.

When he finally finds the book that he’s looking for, he shoves it in his backpack and heads home.

He flops down on the couch and closes his eyes. He has a bed in the other room, but he doesn’t have the energy to drag himself to it. His ribs aren’t feeling the greatest, but he’s a teenage boy, so he’s convinced that a few minutes of sleep will miraculously heal them.

His Aunt May hits him on the knee. “Petey Pie, how was school?”

Peter grunts in response.

Aunt May sits on the couch next to him. “Did you do anything fun?”

Peter opens his eyes and turns to face the obstacle standing between him and sleep. “I got bit by a radioactive spider and became Spider-man.”

Peter’s aunt laughs. “Well then you’re the laziest superhero I know. You don’t pick up your clothes, or do your chores, and I’m positive that Superman wouldn’t complain when he’s told to eat all of his Brussel sprouts.”

Peter closes his eyes and lets his head hang back. “I said Spider-man, not Superman, Mom.”

May ignores the slip of the tongue. Every so often Peter calls her mom when he’s whining, and she finds it too endearing to point it out and risk him becoming self-conscious about it.

May smiles. “Spider, super, same thing. I can’t keep up with all the guys in suits.”

“You said that I’m the laziest superhero you know. What other superheroes do you know Aunt May?”

May feels a slight tinge of sadness being demoted back to an aunt. “Well for one, you’re not a super anything, so you’re not on that list. But if you must know, smarty pants, Tony Stark came to one of the benefits that we had for the shelter. All the kids were so happy to see him and he wore the Ironman suit at first and did the whole ‘I’m a superhero’ thing and then he took the suit off and talked to them about normal stuff. When he was done with the kids, he came over to me and he was very nice. I know he has a public persona of being an arrogant, bad boy, but the real him is very charming.”

Peter smirks. “You got to know the real him after one conversation? That must have been some conversation.”

May swats at Peter with her dish towel. “Wash up so you can have a snack before dinner. I made those rainbow cookies you like.”

“I’m only here for like ten more minutes and then I have to go to work.”

May groans. “I forgot about your Fast food job. Look Honey, you only have to do that until I get back on my feet. When the shelter bumps me up to full salary again you won’t have to do that anymore. You can focus on your classes and not worry about bringing in an extra check.”

Peter looks at May and tries to fake as much sincerity as he can. “It’s cool. I love working at Burger Time.”

May ruffles his hair. “Liar. That’s why you could never be a superhero with a secret identity. You’re a terrible liar. But thank you for helping me make ends meet. That’s the work of a hero in my book.”

Peter closes his eyes. “If I get two jobs will I be doing the work of a superhero? It’s literally double the heroing.”

May laughs. “I think that math adds up. Now, take a quick nap Petey. Worry about being a hero later.”

Peter lets the dark tranquility of sleep fall over him, but he’s awakened by a man yelling through a drive thru intercom. “I said I wanted large fries with that.”

Peter rubs his eyes and looks around. How did he get to work? This wouldn’t be his first time sleepwalking to work. Numerous times he’s gone through the motions and gotten from point A to point B with no clue how he got there, everyone has, but it’s always jarring.

The customer repeats himself at twice the volume, making sure Peter is fully awake. Peter punches in the order and gives the grumpy guy his total.

The voice in Peter’s headset is replaced by the pleasant voice of his A.I. assistant Karen. “Hello Peter.”

Peter clears his throat. “It’s weird hearing your voice when I’m not wearing the suit. Wait a minute. How am I hearing you without the suit?!”

“During emergencies I can hijack the speakers of any electronic device. Mr. Stark has given me this ability.”

Peter’s eyes double in size. “There’s an emergency?”

Karen’s voice is replaced by a woman with a nasally voice. “Yeah, so I want a Double Burger and a vanilla shake, but I want cheese on the burger, no pickles, extra onions, no ketchup, and no salt on the fires.”

Peter punches in the order as quickly as he can so he can get back to Karen’s emergency.

The first customer drives up to the window and Peter swipes the man’s debit card as Karen gives him more details about the emergency. “There is an incident at Stark Industries Main Headquarters. Tony Stark and Captain Rogers were able to guide all the civilians to safety, but the intruders have barricaded themselves into the building. At the moment, Mr. Stark and Captain Rogers are fighting off the threat, but they could use some assistance.”

Peter hands the customer his receipt and closes the drive-up window. He shouts over to the manager. “I have to go. There’s an emergency.”

The manager frowns. “This is your third emergency this week and it’s only Wednesday.”

Peter is already racing out the door as he calls over his shoulder. “I’m really sorry. I’ll make up the hours. I promise.”

He runs down the street and into an alley. He ducks behind a pile of trash cans and slips off his uniform and visor, and shimmies into his Spider-man suit.

He shoots a string of webbing at a nearby streetlamp and swings himself toward Stark Industrial Headquarters. He hopes he gets there before it’s too late.

~~~

Tony punches the passcode into the keypad and the electronically controlled doors slide open. Tony runs inside, but not before a bullet ricochets off of the shoulder blade area of his Ironman armor.

Tony winces. “Way to have my back, Cupcake.”

Steve spins his shield deflecting most of the firepower that comes their way. “Shake it off, Tony. Quick, close the door!”

Steve holds off the barrage of bullets from the other side of the door. 

Tony hits the controls and the door start to close.

Steve waits until the last second before tucking into a ball and rolling backward through the tiny space between the metal doors. The doors shut with a heavy metal thud and Steve takes a second to breathe.

Tony runs to his desk and starts to type at lightning speed onto his computer. “Is this the first time you’ve been in my office?”

Steve stays seated on the floor, but scans the room for intruders breeching the perimeter. The metal door is strong enough to keep the bullets from getting through, but Tony’s high-rise office with a view, has glass windows on the southside instead of a wall.

Tony lifts his hands from the keyboard to the empty space in front of him and the image from the screen is projected into thin air.

Steve walks over to the glass wall and looks through it to make sure they aren’t expecting any surprise visitors. “Tony, do you know what they’re planning?”

Tony moves 3D shapes through the air. “They’re HYDRA officers. If I had to take a guess, they’re after a piece of tech that I have downstairs in the research lab. But which piece of one-of-a-kind, unique technology they are targeting…” He waves his hands a few more times, moving virtual squares and circles at a high speed. “…that’s the big question.”

Steve squints to look down at the pavement below. “I’m not sure if I like the nickname Cupcake.”

Tony smirks as he continues to work through the 3D puzzle. “My apologies. I should have said Captain Cupcake.”

Steve sighs. “It’s not the worst thing you’ve called me.”

Tony snaps his fingers. “Bingo.” The virtual model of abstract shapes turns into a clear picture of a silver cylinder.

Steve walks over to the transparent object and pokes at it. “What is that?”

The image distorts around Steve’s finger before Tony waves the whole projection away. “Don’t worry. The only thing you need to know is that we need to stop HYDRA from getting it.”

Tony waves his hand and the image he had waved away is replaced with a 3D model of the entire basement. Red blobs move slowly through the virtual hallway and even Steve knows that the blobs represent heat signatures of people.

Tony closes his hand into a fist and the picture disappears. “We have to get downstairs right now.”

Steve nods. “They have us cornered, so we can’t get past the door.”

Tony nudges his head. “We’ll take the elevator.”

The two enter Tony’s in-office elevator and the doors ding closed.

Steve leans against the wall. “So the plan is to –.” The metal cylinder is filled with a grinding sound and the elevator shaft begins to freefall.

Steve yells. “Grab onto a railing!”

Tony grabs the metal bar on the wall just in time to prevent being thrown violently around in the freefalling metal deathtrap.

The air is literally being sucked out of Tony’s lungs as they continue to fall. The grinding is almost deafening, especially to Steve’s super soldier hearing, but the high pitched squeal of grinding metal comes to a sudden stop and Tony braces himself for impact.

After a few seconds, impact doesn’t happen. The sound of grinding gears and screeching metal is replaced by the ominous creaking of wires rocking back and forth.

Tony looks up, and the ceiling of the elevator shaft is sent flying away and a friendly neighborhood Spider-man is looking down at him.

Peter is close enough to see, but distant enough that Tony has to shout. “Pete! I’m surprised to see you.”

Peter grunts. “I thought you could use a hand, Mr. Stark.”

Peter has a grip on the elevator with a long thick web coming from his left wrist. His fingers are wrapped around the webbed rope, holding it tightly for a stronger grip. Peter had used his left wrist to send the webbing that pulled off the roof, so he sends a new line of webbing to mirror what his right side is doing. It gives him a more stable grip on the elevator.

Steve cups his hands around his mouth. “Can you pull us up?”

Peter fires up every muscle in his arms as he tries to follow Captain’s orders. Peter uses all of his strength, but the elevator is pulling down against him, so he isn’t quite strong enough to pull the elevator shaft back up.

Peter shakes his head. “It’s too heavy – l can’t – I’m sorry.”

Steve quickly answers back. “No. It’s ok. You’re doing great. I’m just going to climb up and help you out.”

Steve stands on the railing to boost himself up to reach the top corner of the elevator, but the metal box creaks and sways dangerously.

Tony yells. “It’s too much weight distribution.”

Steve carefully lowers himself back down and Peter grunts. “Guys it’s too heavy. We have to do something quick. I can’t hold on.”

Tony nods. “FRIDAY, if Pete lets go, can we survive the fall?”

“No sir, you’re still 40 stories up. The elevator will shatter on impact.”

Tony nods. “FRIDAY, patch Peter through using Karen’s communicator so I can guide him through this without having to shout.”

“Done, Boss.”

Tony clears his throat. “Peter? Can you hear me?”

Peter answers with a strained. “Yeah.”

“Good. FRIDAY is going to reset the elevator control interface so we can get it back online, but it’s going to take some time.”

Peter winces. “How long?”

Tony doesn’t want to tell the kid that it will be at least 20 minutes, because he’s sure that Peter’s close to his limit already. “Not long buddy. I can talk you through it.”

“My arms are really starting to hurt and so are my ribs. This elevator is so heavy. My hands are getting sweaty.”

The elevator creaks in response and Peter loses his grip, causing the elevator to freefall for two floors before stopping.

Peter immediately apologizes. “I’m sorry. I had to adjust my grip.”

Tony tries to catch his breath, and ignore that his life had briefly flashed before his eyes. “Not a problem. We’re all alright. FRIDAY, how much longer til we’re back up to power.”

FRIDAY displays 18 minutes on Tony’s watch face.

Pete’s voice is trembling. “How much longer?”

Tony tries to keep his voice steady. “We’re almost there. You’re doing great.”

Steve whispers to Tony. “If he lets go and then sends a line of webbing, I’m sure he can pull you back to safety.”

Tony frowns. “While you plummet to your death in a fiery blaze of glory?”

Steve softens his gaze. “At least one of us will be safe. I’m not afraid to die, Tony.”

Tony opens his mouth, but he’s interrupted by Peter. “I can do this. Just be honest with me. How long do I have to hold this for?”

Tony debates whether he should lie, but decides the truth is a better bet. “A little over seventeen minutes.”

Peter lets out a soft whine, but follows it by clearing his throat. “I can do that. Um, I have to concentrate so I can’t talk.”

Cap nods. “Copy that.”

An eerie silence falls over the elevator shaft and the only breaks in the silence are the occasional deadly creaks of the wires followed by Peter swearing under his breath.

Eventually the silence is cut with Peter’s voice drenched in tears. “H-how m-much l-longer?”

Tony is sitting on the floor of the elevator with his eyes closed. “Two minutes.”

“Tony, I c-can’t d-do it. My arm’s w-won’t s-stop sh-shaking.”

Steve adopts a military tone. “You’ve got this. Two minutes. Pete. That’s 120 seconds. I’ll count it with you.”

Steve starts to count, and Peter mumbles the numbers in unison.

When they two get to the last 30 seconds Peter is crying too hard to count out loud and the elevator shaft starts to shake.

Steve raises his voice. “Almost there. Twelve…

Eleven…

Ten…

Nine…”

Tony joins him. “Eight…

Seven…

Six…

Five…”

The elevator whirrs to life.

Cap smiles. “I think my count was a bit off.”

Peter wheezes. “Can… can I let go?”

Tony nods. “You did it! Let go kiddo.”

The webbing disconnects from the elevator that it’s tethered to and Peter falls forward. He doesn’t have enough strength to slow his fall so he weakly tumbles into the elevator.

Steve catches the limp hero and Peter grunts, signaling that he’s still conscious.

Steve places him seated against the elevator wall and Tony kneels next to the teenage hero. “You saved our bacon, kid.”

Peter looks up at his mentor. “My arms won’t stop shaking.”

Tony takes Peter’s hands in his own and smiles. “The body doesn’t like it when you force it to do the impossible.”

Peter bites his lip. “Did we stop the dudes that were robbing the place?”

Tony winces. “I’m pretty sure they got away, but any mission that you can walk away from is a win. Right Captain Cupcake?”

Steve leans against the wall and takes a shaky exhale. “Ask me again when my heart isn’t going a mile a minute.”

The elevator stops at the lobby floor and to everyone’s relief the building is deserted. The HYDRA officers must have gotten what they wanted and left shortly after. 

Tony tries to convince Peter to come back to Stark Tower so that Bruce can make sure he isn’t injured (he did just crack a few ribs yesterday), but Peter insists that he’s ok and that he needs to get back home. Tony isn’t exactly happy that the kid is walking home alone after essentially deadlifting a 2 ton elevator for the last half hour.

Tony tries one more time. “You saved our lives. The least I can do is buy you a pizza… or Chinese… or whatever you like to eat.”

The eyes on Peter’s mask squint, giving Tony a slight hint at Peter’s emotions. “I’ll be ok, Tony. I promise. You trusted me to save you from an elevator disaster. You can trust me when I say I’ll make it home. And if you don’t trust me, you can trust Karen. I’ll tell her to report back to you when I get back home.”

Tony reluctantly agrees, but when the worried genius and Steve reach Stark Tower, they still haven’t received an alert that Peter’s gotten home safely. Tony changes out of his clothes and into a relaxing pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and still, no all-clear alert from Karen.

Steve convinces Tony to eat some leftover noodles in the fridge for dinner, but even after the meal, no alert from Peter’s artificial intelligence assistant.

Steve excuses himself after dinner to head downstairs to the gym. Lifting weights is his way to relax after a tense day. Tony’s stress release is the exact opposite; couch potatoing.

Tony sprawls out on the couch and closes his eyes. His anxiety is almost unbearable, so he uses Steve’s technique of counting down. When he gets to zero, he will abandon Peter’s hands-off approach and hack into the suit’s intercom to speak with Karen directly.

Tony sighs. “Fifty five… fifty four…”

FRIDAY chimes in. “Karen has informed me that Peter has gotten home safely.”

Tony takes a sigh of relief and mumbles to himself. “Why does that kid get to me so much?”

FRIDAY responds. “Because prior to contrary opinion, you have a heart.”

“That was a rhetorical question.”

He texts Steve that Peter is home safe and sound, and turns on the science channel. A deep bass voice narrates the tale of how the world would end if it were struck by a meteor. Tony wraps a soft blanket around himself as he watches the episode for the hundredth time.

It’s up to the part about a second Ice Age when his phone rings. He glances over at the call that he assumes is Steve, but the name Peter flashes on the phone’s screen.

Tony smiles. “Heya Pete. Calling for a bedtime story?”

Peter laughs uneasily. “Um, kind of.”

Tony follows with silence, so Peter continues. “I kinda, can’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I keep seeing the elevator slipping from my fingers and I can hear the sound of grinding metal and um, when I open my eyes, my chest gets really tight and my arms start to hurt. My left arm keeps twitching too.”

Tony mutes the TV. “I’m not sure what I can do to help.”

“Can you just talk to me until I fall asleep?”

Tony reaches for a book on the coffee table. “Sure. One bedtime story coming up.”

He cracks open the Thermonuclear Applications and Practices textbook and starts to read.

It doesn’t take long before Tony hears Peter snoring softly on the other end of the phone.

Tony puts the book down and FRIDAY whispers. “Should I end the call, Boss?”

Tony closes his eyes with the phone to his ear. “No, just in case he wakes up, I’ll stay on the line.”

Eventually Tony drifts off to sleep with the phone tucked against his ear in the same way that Peter is curled up in his own bed.

FRIDAY monitors her two boys as they sleep through the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, another long chapter :) I had to split up the scenes into three parts because it switched viewpoints from Tony to Peter, and then back to Tony, but I wanted to give you a little peek at Peter's world without quite letting Tony know about it. I am having so much fun with this story and I hope you're having fun reading it too. The next chapter will be Saturday and that's when a few of the other Avengers pop up :) Thanks as always for all the kind words and the kudos!


	4. Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter just wants to hang out with his Irondad and Superdad, but things keep getting in the way.  
> (I guess a super solider dad is called Superdad)

Peter leans back in his seat on the subway and closes his eyes. He just finished patrolling. He saved the day a few times and now he’s ready for a nap. He’s on his way to meet with Steve and Tony at Stark Tower to hang out for the weekend. He’s sure that he’ll be too excited to get much sleep because he’s going to be hanging out with two Avengers again, and how cool is that? It’s the main reason that Peter is on the subway instead just swinging over to the Tower. As effortless as Peter has gotten with swinging from building to building, he still hasn’t reached the point where he can do it in his sleep.

Peter smiles in anticipation of getting to see Tony and Steve. To be honest, he isn’t sure if he’s more excited to hang out with Tony the superhero, or Tony the genius with a workshop that has more electronic equipment and machines than Peter has seen in his entire life. Tony’s workshop rival’s Santa’s in Peter’s mind.

The subway is packed and Peter’s squished between two passengers. It’s not the most relaxing place to take a nap, but he’s fallen asleep in sketchier places. He has his earbuds on and they’re set to ambient noise music. His enhanced hearing makes it hard to tune out all of the noises around him, so the dull hum of white noise (in this case a refrigerator motor) makes it easier to block everything out.

He had once tried noise cancelling headphones, but the one time he used them he fell asleep, missed his stop, and the $20 bill in his pocket was missing. The fact that Spider-man was pickpocketed will forever be his most embarrassing moment. Total failure.

Peter takes a deep breath, pushing that memory away, but his trip to dreamland is interrupted by a the subway stopping to let people on and off. It’s an express subway train so the next stop won’t be for awhile. Peter decides that he should open his eyes just in case.

The people sitting on either side of Peter leave and Peter takes the brief moment to stretch out. When people start piling back onto the subway car Peter prepares to be squished like a sardine again, but only a few people get on.

One of those people is a man with a backpack like Peter’s. He’s wearing a baseball cap pulled down almost in the same way Peter uses his hoodie for a disguise. Peter’s spider senses are triggered immediately.

Peter watches as the man walks over to him and hesitates before sitting down. Peter usually does the same thing because he waits to make sure there aren’t any elderly people or pregnant women that he would offer his seat to. The man in the baseball cap tilts his head so that Peter can see his eyes and Peter instantly recognizes him.

Peter’s heart skips a beat as he silently says to himself. _Oh my god, its Bucky!_

Bucky gives Peter a quick smile of acknowledgment and Peter returns the smile. His heart is beating out of his chest because seeing an Avenger is still surreal.

When the subway doors close, Bucky sits next to Peter. Peter is pretty sure that Bucky is trying to get through this subway ride without anyone recognizing him and Peter can completely understand that. Still, he’s too polite not to say hi. Peter smiles, but pitches his voice lower because he’s fairly sure that they’re both going to the Tower so disguising his voice is a must. “Hi.”

Bucky glances over to Peter and sighs. “You know who I am, don’t you?”

Peter nods. The less he uses his voice the better.

Bucky does a quick scan to the right and the left. When his eyes settle back on Peter, the Winter Soldier smirks. “You know that I have to kill you now, right?”

Peter laughs and the guy sitting on the subway bench across from them chimes in. “Don’t. The paperwork on that is a nightmare.”

Peter looks at the guy who chimed in and it's easy to recognize that its Hawkeye, even if he’s wearing street clothes like Bucky. Hawkeye is laying across the entire bench like a bed and doesn’t have his quiver of arrows or his bow because apparently it’s casual Friday for both Avengers.

Peter can’t help but tease Hawkeye. “Are you a fan too?”

Hawkeye moans frustration. “No one ever recognizes me. I knew I should have brought my arrows.”

Peter is about to tell poor Hawkeye that he’s just kidding, but Peter’s phone buzzes in his hand. Peter looks down at the message and it’s from Aunt May.

_Hey Petey, I know I told you that I’m working an overnight double shift today and tomorrow, but I just wanted to remind you to lock the door when you get home. Adam, from apartment 3A told me that he was robbed the other day. Adam is right across the hall, so that’s way too close for comfort. Also, I left a frozen lasagna on the top shelf of the fridge so you can heat up that bad boy for dinner tonight. I love you, and if you need me, give me a call._

Peter types back, _I’ll be fine <3 you too Aunt May_

By the time Peter finishes, Hawkeye is laying on the subway bench with his eyes closed and Bucky is watching a video on his phone.

Peter leans over to see what Bucky’s watching. Bucky turns up the volume when he notices that Peter is interested.

A cheery news reporter is speaking into a microphone. “I’m here at Midtown Mutual Bank and I’m with an eyewitness to the bank robbery.” She turns to a guy in a t-shirt and jeans. “Sir, you said that the bank robbers were stopped by Spider-man?”

She points the microphone at the eyewitness and the guy smiles. “Yeah. I was just standing on line and then some dudes with guns come in and they’re all like ‘give me all your money’ and I’m like ‘wow, is this real life?’ and then the dudes start stuffing money into bags and it’s crazy. So, like, just when I think that this is gonna end with them getting away, Spider-man comes busting in the bank and everyone starts cheering and he uses that web stuff that he has and he webs one guy in the face. Then he does some crazy acrobat karate moves and beats all those idiots down.”

The reporter nods. “So, you’re saying that Spider-man saved the day?”

The guy nods enthusiastically. “You better believe it. He even let me take a picture with him.” He holds up his phone proudly. He then looks into the camera. “Hey, Spidey. If you’re listening, thanks for being the coolest superhero ever!”

The reporter smiles. “And there you have it. Spider-man saves the day yet again and the people of Queens are grateful. Back to you in the studio, John.”

Bucky closes the video and cracks his neck. “That Spider-man guy is pretty cool.”

Peter’s heart starts to race again. Bucky thinks that he’s cool. This is the best day of his life.

Peter tries to contain his excitement. “You really think that Spider-man is cool?”

Bucky nods. “Yeah. Almost every day there’s a story about him saving someone from a burning building, or rescuing someone from a sinking boat. But there’s also tons of stories about him visiting kids in a cancer ward at a hospital. He seems like an awesome guy, unlike the bum laying on the bench across from us. If Clint were more like Spider-man I bet people would recognize him on the subway.”

Clint (who’s apparently not asleep) answers by sticking up his middle finger and mumbling. “You know what? You can shut the fu -.” He’s cut off when the subway train screeches to a halt and the lights go out.

The jarring stop throws Clint off the bench. Bucky is able to grab the pole next to him to stay seated, but Peter is throw off the bench as well. Peter has the reflexes to easily somersault to his feet or even launch himself to the ceiling and cling there, but he ignores those reflexes so that his cover isn’t blown.

He hits the ground harder than he intends to because he doesn’t brace himself at all. Bucky kneels next to him with concern. “You ok?”

Peter sits up gingerly. He can see Bucky because the orange lights that are lining the subway tunnel give their surroundings a dim orange glow. Just enough of a glow to see. Peter winces. “Yeah. The floor is pretty gross though.”

Bucky laughs as he helps Peter stand.

Clint checks to see if the other people in the subway car are hurt. The door between the cars opens and a guy with a leather jacket and sunglasses walks in. He points a gun to the ceiling. “Nobody move.”

Bucky rolls up his sleeve revealing his metal arm. “Big mistake.”

The subway criminal shouts. “Oh, shit!” He grabs Peter’s backpack and runs out of the car at full speed.

Peter’s suit is in the backpack, along with all the overnight belongings that he had packed for his Avengers sleepover. He runs after the criminal as Bucky yells from behind him. “Wait, kid. You’re gonna get hurt. Let me handle it.”

Peter is gaining on the criminal and putting more distance between Bucky, but not enough to get away with using his powers. He can’t risk the guy bailing with his backpack, so he winces to himself. _Sorry Bucky._

He’s at least a subway car length away from Bucky so Peter quickly flicks the door switch closed as he enters the next car. He really hopes that Bucky doesn’t slam into the closed door, but he has to get his backpack.

By a stroke of luck, the subway car that Peter and the criminal are in is empty, so Peter takes the spare web shooter from his pocket and attaches it to his wrist. He shoots a line of webbing to grab the backpack-jacker and pulls the criminal towards him.

Peter moves his arm and the webbed string moves to the side, slamming the criminal against one of the metal poles. The dude goes down almost instantly.

Peter is about to use a new line of webbing to grab the backpack, but his spider senses can hear Bucky prying the doors open.

Peter retracts the line of webbing to make sure there isn’t any trace of webbing solution anywhere and thinks of the most upsetting thing that he can. He’s able to produce convincing tears by the time Bucky reaches him.

Bucky races to his side and Peter sniffs. “I know it was dumb to follow him and I could have gotten hurt, but all my stuff is in there and, and -.”

Bucky puts a hand on Peter’s shoulder and then walks to the unconscious criminal next to the pole. “It’s alright. Are you hurt?”

Peter had picked the wrong memory to think about and it’s a little harder to pull himself back together than he had planned. He bites his lip and takes a deep breath to remind himself that he’s just acting. “Um, I’m ok, but the guy turned around and pointed his gun at me and it was really scary.”

Bucky leans down to pick up the backpack. “I’m sorry that happened.”

Peter nods. “The guy was still running when he turned and pointed the gun, and I guess he didn’t see the pole and ran right into it. I guess I got lucky.”

Bucky walks over to Peter and hands him the backpack. “You were really lucky. Next time leave the subway chases with an armed criminal to the professionals.”

Peter wipes his eyes and nods. “Yes sir.”

Bucky smirks. “It’s Bucky. I’m going to clean up this mess here. The train isn’t going anywhere for a long time so if you have somewhere important to go, you should probably head out. Just walk along the tracks. I know that it’s dark and creepy and more gross than the subway floor, but you’ll be ok.”

Peter clutches his backpack. “Thanks Bucky. Can you tell Hawkeye that I was just kidding and I really did recognize him?”

Bucky shakes his head. “Nope. Not going to relay that message. It’s too fun teasing the guy.”

Peter laughs as Bucky pulls the outside doors apart so he can leave.

Peter hops off the subway train, onto the tracks, and walks for a while until there’s no one else around him. When he’s all alone, he attaches the other web shooter to his wrist, pulls up the hood of his hoodie, and runs full speed. He shoots a line of webbing to the ceiling of the tunnel and with the momentum swings into the air. He swings from web to web as he makes his way to Stark Tower.

He uses the GPS on his phone and when it tells him that he’s directly under Stark Tower, he slides into his Spider suit, climbs up through the nearest manhole, and starts to scale the building. It’s dark outside at this point so he can get away with climbing a building in the middle of Midtown Manhattan without anyone noticing.

He web-crawls up the side of the Tower until he reaches the floor that Tony lives on. He tries to get through the window, but it's sealed shut.

He doesn’t want to break-through the glass because that’s excessive and unnecessary, not to mention it’s a bad way to start the weekend.

He climbs down the building until he reaches an open window. He can see inside that it’s pretty dark, but it’s also a room that looks kind of like they have meetings there, like a conference room. As long as it’s not someone’s bedroom or an occupied bathroom, he doesn’t mind sliding through the window. Since a conference room is neither of these, he wiggles inside the open window.

He jumps down and when his feet touch the floor, he expects to hear an alarm go off. Instead, Loki and Thor are playing a game of pool on the far end of the room. This is not a conference room, it’s the game room.

Peter freezes, hoping not to be detected, as Loki lines up the shot with his pool stick. Loki’s icy blue eyes shift from the cue ball, to lock onto Peter.

Loki’s mouth angles into a smirk. “Thor, if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times. When you leave the window open, bugs while inevitably come inside.”

Thor turns to face Peter and Peter swallows. “Um, technically spiders aren’t bugs, we’re arachnids. It’s a common mistake.”

Thor reaches out his hand and the hammer flies past Peter and into the mighty warrior’s hand. “I do not care what you are. You do not belong here.” Thor turns to Loki. “Brother, help me make quick work of this intruder.”

Loki crosses his arms over his chest. “You speak as if we are a team. You and I are no such thing.”

Thor frowns. “You are a coward.”

Peter holds his hands up in surrender. “Um guys? I really think that this is a family thing and it’s a little awkward, so I’m going to just head out.”

Thor points his hammer at Peter. “When the King of Asgard wages battle, he cannot be halted until he tastes the victors of triumph.”

Loki raises an eyebrow. “That was a lot, Thor, and if I’m saying it’s a lot then you might want to tone it down a bit.”

Thor frowns. “If you are not going to help me against this threat, then I have no use for you.”

Loki looks at Peter. “I’m quite sure that the name Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man is synonymous with ally, but who am I to stop the king when he’s made up his mind? Have at it.”

Thor directs a line of thunder from his hammer at Peter. Peter narrowly ducks under the supercharged blast and squeaks. “Loki, you know I’m not a threat. Tell your brother to stop!”

Loki moves the pool balls into a more advantageous position and shrugs. “I’m not invested either way if you live or die. I’m more interested in the game of pool that we were playing.”

Thor stops attacking and scowls at Loki. “I saw you move that pool ball. Are you trying to win by deceit?”

Loki gives Peter a smirk before continuing to hold Thor’s attention. “I did no such thing.”

“Yes you did!”

Loki glances quickly at Peter climbing back up to the window, while keeping Thor’s attention. “My dearest brother. Are you calling me a liar and a cheater?”

Peter nods a quick thank you before scurrying out of the window. He can hear their argument continue as he climbs down the building to a different floor and finds a different open window. This room isn’t empty either, but it’s the gym and Steve is the only person there.

Peter hops through the window and Steve looks up from his punching bag. The super soldier smiles. “Hi Pete. How was your day?”

Peter thinks back to the bank robbery, the subway gunman chase, and the almost battle against an Asgardian god, but shrugs. “Nothing exciting, you?”

Steve puts an arm around Peter’s shoulder. “Same. I think Tony has some really complicated science project for you and him to bond over, but let's start with a movie so I won’t feel left out.”

Peter smiles. “Is it alright if I watch the movie with my suit on?”

Steve leads Peter into the living room. “Sure, that won’t be weird at all.”

For movie night, Tony chooses the scariest movie known to man and Peter is curled up against Steve the whole time. After the fifth jump scare in row, Steve pauses the movie. “Maybe we should watch something else.”

Tony frowns. “But it’s almost at the best part. The chainsaw wielding madman is about to - .”

Peter looks at Tony and the kid can literally see the moment of realization. Tony smiles. “Are you scared?”

Peter’s literally shaking. The jump scares are way too much for his heightened senses and he’s feeling extremely jittery. Still, he doesn’t want Tony to be mad, so he shakes his head as he lies through his chattering teeth. “N-no I’m totally fine.”

Tony smiles. “Great, because your’e going to the love the next part.”

Peter gives Steve a pleading look and Steve happily plays the part of hero. “Actually Babe, I’m scared. So let’s watch…” He clicks off the movie and picks the first normal title that he recognizes. “… Star Wars. That’s good family fun.”

Peter feels his heart flutter when he hears Cap say the word family and he curls in closer to his Captain America pillow.

Tony sighs. “Fine.”

Peter happily watches the movie with Steve as his pillow and when they get midway through the second episode of the trilogy, Peter has gone from lounging on Steve, to sitting on the edge of his seat. He’s seen the movies practically a thousand times (Steve happened to pick Peter’s favorite movie series), but he always gets really excited when this part comes up.

Peter is reciting the words in his head when all of a sudden he feels his breathing start to speed up. He’s watching his favorite movie with the first people that make him feel like he’s a part of a family. He hasn’t felt this way since he used to watch movies with Aunt May and Uncle Ben…

Oh.

Tony and Steve are engrossed in the movie so they don’t pick up on Peter’s mood shift. The Spider-man mask is covering how flushed Peter’s face is, and the mask is also covering the tears that are starting to form.

Peter’s chest is tightening more and more by the second and his shallow breathing isn’t very loud, but Steve has enhanced hearing like Peter, so it’s only a matter of time before he notices.

Peter tries to hold his breath, hoping it will even everything out, but it’s only making him dizzy.

Peter clears his throat and ignores the quivering in his voice. “Um, I need to go.”

Steve is on it instantly. His voice doesn’t hide the concern very well. “Is everything alright?”

Peter is already standing because he needs to get out of there before starts to full-on hyperventilate. “Yeah, I just n-need to, um use the restroom.”

His plan is to casually walk away but he half-walks half-runs out of the room. When he’s out of eyeshot, he bolts down the hallway and runs up the stairs.

Tony’s suite is the penthouse so it’s on the top floor. Peter doesn’t have to go far before he reaches the roof and pushes the heavy metal door that gives access to the outside.

He feels the wind smack him in the face and he tears off his mask so he can breathe. He gasps for breath as it feels like he’s breathing in glass, through his lungs.

He staggers over to the ledge of the rooftop. The ledge is high enough so that he can stand while resting his arms on the top. His head is spinning and he feels like he’s about to pass out so instead of leaning over the edge of the ledge, he braces his hands on top and leans his head down to the ground.

He pleads with his body to calm down. This isn’t the first time that this has happened, but like every other time, he’s dealt with it alone. Thankfully, this time, he doesn’t end the ordeal with vomiting or passing out. He somehow calms himself back down.

When the world isn’t spinning and his lungs don’t feel like fire anymore, he hops up on the ledge and lets his legs dangle over the edge. He swings his legs as he loses himself in thought, but those thoughts are interrupted when he hears someone pushing the metal door open.

Peter slips his mask back on as footsteps approach.

Peter can’t see who’s behind him, but he recognizes that its Tony, even before he speaks. “I know that you’re not human, but you probably shouldn’t make it a habit of peeing off the side of the roof. The neighbors tend to get angry about things like that.”

Peter can’t help but laugh. “I didn’t really need a bathroom break.”

Tony leans against the ledge. “I connected those dots. I’ve had enough panic attacks to know what they look like. Was it something in the movie that triggered it?”

Peter shakes his head.

Tony sighs. “Can you hop down from the ledge so we can talk? I’m not afraid of heights, but something about looking over the edge of a building is making me uneasy.”

Peter hops down from the ledge and sits on the ground with his hands folded over his bent knees. He’s in a position to bury his head in his hands, but for now his head is resting against the high wall of the ledge.

Tony sits next to him.

Peter takes a deep breath and starts. “I was watching the movie, not the scary one, but the other one, and everything just felt so familiar. It felt like when my Uncle was alive and things were so much easier. But whenever I get close to someone, they die. My Mom and Dad died. My Uncle died. Even the pet turtle I had in third grade that was supposed to live to 200 because turtles live forever, died. When you were talking to me the other day about nightmares and I held your hand, you reminded me of my dad. And when I was sitting with Cap and he pretended that he was afraid of the movie so that I wouldn’t be embarrassed, it reminded me of my dad. And when we were watching Star Wars and I felt the happiest that I’ve felt in years, I started to have a panic attack. I already lost one dad. I can’t lose two more.”

Peter doesn’t dare look up, but he can tell Tony’s voice is shaking. “What was your turtle’s name.”

“Michelangelo. He was named after the ninja turtle, not the painter guy.”

“Of course he was. Poor Michelangelo may have left this word too soon, but I’m sure you had some happy memories together.”

Peter nods. “He was with me longer than my parents and my Uncle. He was the only one I had left besides my Aunt. I can’t really talk about him though. If I cry with the mask on, it’s hard to breathe.”

Tony’s voice is barely above a whisper. “It’s a good thing I’m not wearing a mask.”

Peter leans against Tony’s shoulder. Tony puts his arm around him and the kid settles into the familiar embrace.

Peter sighs. “There was a thing on the internet that had all these facts about Tony Stark. It said that you don’t like to hug people.”

Tony’s chest sinks as he takes a long sigh. “True story. I’m not a fan of human contact, but I have exceptions. You, Kiddo, for some unknown reason, are one of those exceptions. And just to be accurate, this isn’t a hug. Steve calls it cuddling. It’s mandatory if I’m too vulgar or if I swear too much. He’s not a fan of my colorful language.”

Peter nods against Tony’s chest. “Do you think we can all still be friends, even if I don’t tell you guys who I am?”

Tony hums. “As curious as I am, I can wait. No one can keep a secret forever. Besides, FRIDAY assures me you’re not a supervillain serial killer so that’s good enough for me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony, Steve, and Peter are really starting to become a family, but it's all a little too easy. The next chapter is my favorite and it has the most angst and fluff so far. Thanks again for for the kudos and the comments, or just taking the time to read it :)


	5. Responsibility

Tony rolls over in bed. He wakes up when his arm hits the empty space next to him. The sheets on the empty side are cold and Tony mumbles into his pillow. “That’s strange. There should be a certain super soldier here.”

He rolls on his side so he can prop himself up and looks at the nightstand. Perched on the nightstand is a clear plastic container with a cupcake in it and a note sitting next to it.

Tony scoops up the cupcake and reads the sticker on top. “Gourmet latte cupcake. This cupcake is coffee flavored, with rich vanilla icing and shaved chocolate sprinkles on top. Enjoy this cupcake with a kick.”

Tony unfolds the handwritten note from Steve.

_Hey Tony. This is for you. A cupcake from your cupcake. I got called in for a last minute mission and I know better than to wake you up when you actually fall asleep. Hopefully the mission is quick and I’ll be back soon. -Steve_

Tony opens the plastic container and plucks the sweet desert from it’s home. He takes a bite of the coffee flavored spongy cake and hums. “Oh my god, this is _good_!”

He continues to devour the cupcake in record time and even licks his fingers to get every last morsel of icing. He ends his surprise breakfast with a satisfied sigh and lifts himself out of bed. He heads to the kitchen to wash down his coffee treat with a little coffee.

He drags himself into the kitchen and makes enough coffee to fill his thermos. He reaches for the lid when FRIDAY’s voice fills the room. “Peter is in the hospital.”

Tony grips the lid. “Is it serious? Did he get injured patrolling?”

“Peter has not been injured, it’s his… I’m not sure if he will appreciate me telling you this, but Peter lives alone with his aunt and she has been critically injured. Peter is in the waiting room and…” She trails off.

Tony tightens the lid onto the thermos and nods. “Understood. I’ll get dressed and head down there now. You can give me more details on the way.”

Tony makes it as quickly as he possibly can to the hospital.

He can easily use his celebrity reputation to pull enough strings to track down Peter, but FRIDAY refuses to tell him Peter’s last name or Peter’s aunt’s first name. The only aid that FRIDAY gives is tracking Peter’s location through his phone’s GPS.

When Tony finally reaches the correct hospital floor, the elevator doors open and he sees Peter sitting on a row of armless chairs that connect into a bench. The chair bench is next to a vending machine. Tony can recognize that it’s Peter because the kid is wearing the same trademark hoodie that he always wears.

Peter has the hood pulled over his head, but he’s hanging his head, hunched over with his arms resting on his thighs.

Tony slowly walks over to the teenager and sits next to him. Peter instinctually sits up. His voice is hoarse and strained. “Hi Mr. Stark.”

Tony clears his throat, offering a one word greeting. “Kid.”

Peter’s hood acts as a wall between the two, keeping his identity secret, and Tony can only guess that Peter’s eyes are pink with tears. That theory is confirmed when Peter starts to sniff and his shoulders start to tremble.

Tony puts a hand on one of those trembling shoulders. “FRIDAY was a little vague on the details. Do you think you can fill me in on what happened?”

Peter shakes his head and starts crying harder.

Tony clears his throat to clear out all the emotion. He has to be the strong one in this situation. He keeps it to yes or no questions. “Your aunt was hurt?”

Peter nods adding a soft. “Car…”

Tony adds. “A car accident?”

Peter nods.

“Ok, is she going to need surgery?”

Peter nods again.

Tony asks the next question slowly. “Is she awake?”

Peter shakes his head, but this time he hangs his head and cries into his hands.

Tony puts a hand on Peter’s back. He rubs comforting circles hoping that will calm him down, but Peter’s sobs turn into hiccuping gasps and Tony is afraid that the poor kid is going to hyperventilate.

Tony guides Peter to lay across his lap. Peter calms down a bit, but he’s still shaking. Tony puts his earbuds in Peter’s ears and gives FRIDAY a command. “Play something soothing, FRI.”

Almost instantly Peter stops shaking and his whole body relaxes. He’s still crying softly, but he isn’t hyperventilating anymore. Tony waits for the kid to eventually cry himself to sleep. When Peter finally finds the temporary tranquility of sleep, Tony takes a deep breath and sighs to himself.

Peter’s hood has moved a little, so Tony moves it back, and his hand brushes against a soft tuft of curly hair.

Tony feels a little guilty finding out this clue to who Peter really is, only because the kid is passed out after crying himself to sleep.

Tony doesn’t have much time with his guilt because a woman with a clipboard approaches him. She adjusts her glasses. “Is this your son?”

Tony shakes his head and keeps his voice low, so he doesn’t wake Peter. “I’m a family friend.”

As soon as he says it, he internally chastises himself. _What the hell am I saying? I’m not a family friend. I don’t even know Peter’s aunt’s name. I don’t even know Peter’s last name._

The woman doesn’t hear his inner monologue, so she trusts that he truly is a family friend. “I’m a social worker that has been assigned to the case. Have you been a friend of the family for a long time Mr. Stark?”

Tony has never been more grateful for being recognizable to 90% of the public. He tries to sound convincing. “I’ve known Peter since he was a little boy. His aunt used to work for me.”

He doesn’t have any psychic abilities, but he tries as hard as he can to psychically tell FRIDAY to create fake records saying that Peter’s aunt works for Stark Industries. He also hopes that the social worker mentions Peter’s aunt’s name so he can name drop that at some point in the conversation.

Tony knows that he’s about to ask this social worker to break hospital rules, but he’s hoping like many times in the past, he can use his celebrity status to get free things. In this instance, it’s free info. “I’m not technically family, so the doctors won’t tell me the exact extent of the injuries. Would you happen to know?”

The social worker looks hesitant for a moment, but eventually answers in a voice that’s so low it’s almost inaudible. “The doctors have May in a medically induced coma because the pain of her injuries would be too much to bear at this point. The damage is mainly to her spine. She is going to need to stay in a rehabilitation center if she wishes to regain the ability to walk.”

Tony’s throat is so dry that he can barely swallow.

The lady, that has no problem breaking patient/doctor confidentially, gets to the topic that she originally approached him to speak about. “Peter isn’t eighteen, as you know, which means he needs a temporary legal guardian. Do you know of any other family that could step in to take guardianship?”

Tony feels his heart warm a little. Peter is actually his name. Peter had trusted Tony enough to give him his real name.

Tony shakes his head. “Peter told me once that his aunt is all he has.”

The worker purses her lips. “I see. Well then, I will contact the nearest shelter, and we can take it from there.”

Tony was born into a wealthy family and has no idea what social services or a shelter entails, but visions of an orphanage and a little red-headed girl singing _Tomorrow_ flood through his mind. This is Tony’s opportunity to save Annie from the orphanage and he can’t mess this up.

Tony clears his throat. “I’ll take temporary guardianship of Peter.”

The social worker raises an eyebrow. “What?”

FRIDAY asks the same question at twice the volume in his earbuds.

Tony tries to reassure them both. “Social worker woman –.”

The woman interjects. “Molly.”

“Right, Molly. I gather that you know who I am and what I stand for. I’m a hero that rescues people in need and this time Peter is the one that needs a hero right now. I’m sure that May will have a full recovery, but in the meantime I don’t want her to be burdened with worrying if Peter has someone to look after him. I can provide food and shelter for her son, and I can also cover all of her medical bills.”

Social worker Molly furrows her brow. “This is a little unorthodox. A sponsor would normally have to undergo an extensive background check, but since I know who you are Mr. Stark, and the fact that who you are is a superhero…”

Tony gives her his most convincing smile.

Molly smiles as well. “You know what? I’ll make an exception this time. If anyone asks, I can vouch for your character.”

Tony nods and carefully maneuvers to pull a business card out of his pocket without waking Peter. “Excellent. Send all the paperwork to my lawyer. The number is on the business card.”

Molly disappears with the business card, promising to reappear shortly.

When it’s just Peter and Tony again, Tony sighs. “What have I done kid? I don’t even know your last name. Well technically it can be Stark for the time being.”

Peter shifts, but still stays sound asleep.

Tony bites his lip. “FRIDAY, I know Steve is on a mission, but is there any way you can reach him?”

FRIDAY doesn’t answer, but the sound of ringing gives Tony hope that she isn’t too angry at him. That is, if artificial intelligence can even get angry.

Steve answers, a little out of breath. “Tony? FRIDAY said you needed to talk to me urgently.”

Tony clears his throat. “How would you feel about adopting a child?”

Steve’s voice sounds like he’s facing away from the receiver. “Commander Fury, I need a moment sir. I’ll be right back.” Steve focuses back on Tony. “Why do you want to know my opinion on child adoption?”

Tony sets his jaw. “You know that I’m hopelessly in love with you, right?”

“Keep talking.”

“It’s just that Peter’s aunt was in a horrific car accident. I’m not actually sure if she was driving or if she was crossing the street, but that’s not important. Peter doesn’t have anyone to look after him. I think it’s my duty to prevent Annie from going to the orphanage. You’ve heard the song. It’s a hard knock life. Do you want that for the kid?”

Steve sighs. “Ok, lets slow down. First of all, you watch too many musicals. Life is not a musical. Second of all, no, I don’t want Peter to go to social services if he doesn’t have to. I’d be honored to co-parent a kid in need with you, but you have to do me a favor.”

“Sure, what?”

“You said that you didn’t know if his aunt was hit by a car while walking or driving and it didn’t matter, but it does matter, Tony. Details matter. We can’t take care of Peter without knowing a few basic details. I know he’s skittish about revealing details about his life, but he can’t sit at the breakfast table with a hood on. I’m not asking for his whole life story and his social security number, but he’s about to be going through some hard times and we should be able to look him in the eyes when we tell him that everything is going to be ok.”

Tony smiles. “You’d be honored to co-parent with me?”

Steve laughs. “Tony, I swear to God, if that’s the part that you stopped paying attention –.”

“Relax Babe, I heard the whole thing. And it pains me to says this, but you’re absolutely right. I’ll call you back. Oh, by the way. I loved the cupcake. It reminded me of our first date in France.”

Tony can tell Steve is blushing through the phone. “That pastry café with the macaroons. We have to go back sometime.”

Tony smirks. “I’ll have FRIDAY book a flight.”

“I’m looking forward to that. I’ll talk to you soon.”

Tony ends the call and feels the fluttering in his stomach that he always feels after flirting with Steve. They’ve been what Steve calls “exclusive” for a while, but Tony still has to fight the urge to smile every time he thinks about him.

Peter shifts on his lap again, reminding Tony of the task at hand.

He gently sits Peter up, and in the process, Peter wakes up. The kid rubs his eyes. “Huh? Wh-where am I?”

Tony keeps his voice soft. “We’re still at the hospital.”

Peter tenses. “Yeah, I… I almost forgot.” He takes the earbuds out and puts his head back in his hands.

Tony puts a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “So, a social worker named Molly came by and told me that Aunt May needs some time to recover and someone needs to take care of you. Um, I kind of volunteered.”

Peter sighs. “She said that someone needs to watch me because I’m a kid, right? She told you I’m fifteen, didn’t she?”

Tony shakes his head. “Nope, but you just did.”

Peter sighs. “You can’t adopt me if you don’t even know what I look like.”

“Funny, Steve said the same thing. Apparently, I’m the only one that was willing to adopt the Invisible Boy.”

Peter shakes his head. “I can’t show you who I am. Whenever I get close to someone they die.”

“I hate to break it to you kid, but we’re far from strangers. Even if I haven’t seen your face, I still haven’t been hit with a lightning bolt yet. But more importantly, I want to look you in the eyes and tell you everything is going to be ok.”

Steve’s words flow effortlessly out of Tony’s mouth and they seem to pierce through Peter’s armor. Peter turns to face Tony. The hood is casting a dark shadow over most of his face, but as Peter looks up to meet Tony’s eyes. Tony can see Peter’s brown eyes for the first time.

Peter’s eyes are filled with all the fear and sadness that his words had carefully hidden. The brown eyes become glassy as the boy grabs onto the edges of the hoodie and slowly pulls it down.

Peter’s face is in sharp focus under the bright hospital fluorescent lights. He has a bruise on his right eye that Tony fully intends to ask him about later, but for now, he just holds the kid’s stare waiting for Peter to say something.

Peter continues to stare at the man who promised him everything would be ok.

Tony repeats that promise. “Everything is going to be ok. And if it’s not, I’ll be here and we can work it out.”

Tony ruffles Peters hair and the tears that Peter has been holding back start to fall down his face again.

Tony puts a hand behind Peter’s head and draws him in for a hug.

Peter whispers against Tony’s chest. “Thank you.”

Tony tries to ignore the tears building in his own eyes. “No problem kid. Spider-man isn’t the only one that looks out for the little guy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reveal!! I re-wrote and re-edited this chapter to death, but I'm happy with it at this point lol. I hope you enjoyed it too. Now that Peter, Steve, and Tony are "officially" a family there's a lot more drama ahead. Thanks as always for reading. I can't believe how many people enjoy the story. You guys are the best and I love all of you:)


	6. Food

Steve adjusts his glasses and squints at the boxes of frozen TV dinners in the refrigerated case. He’s wearing his fake glasses and baseball cap to lower his odds of being recognized, but the supermarket is relatively empty. The only person in the frozen food aisle other than him is an elderly woman that is far more concerned with the various frozen pasta meals at her disposal, than the super soldier.

Steve sighs into his Bluetooth. “Most of these say, ‘healthy options’, but they all come with a brownie or a square of cherry pie, so I’m not sure.”

Tony answers through the speakers. “Remind me again why our daily routine of random takeout for dinner is getting abandoned?”

Steve opens the glass freezer and takes out a chicken nugget meal. “If we’re going to be responsible for Peter, we have to have healthy food available for him to eat. When we return him to Aunt May, she’s going to be ticked off if every dinner we provide him consists of reheated Chinese takeout and ice cream. I’m going to pick up some frozen dinners and then some ingredients to cook real meals.”

“You know how to cook? That’s news to me.”

Steve tosses a few frozen dinners in his shopping cart. “I can’t. This will be a first. I’m buying the frozen dinners as a backup in case things go horribly wrong.”

“Well don’t take too long at the supermarket. I miss you.”

Steve can’t help but smile. “Well maybe if you didn’t cause a spectacle every time you walk into a room, you could have joined me and Peter.” He glances over at the elderly woman to make sure she’s not paying attention and lowers his voice to a whisper. “I miss you too.”

Tony scoffs. “If you really love me, you’ll call off the ban on takeout food, or at the very least you’ll cook me a nice shawarma dinner.”

Steve rolls his eyes. “Yeah, that’s a negative. I’m going to start with making something simple like grilled chicken or hamburgers and go from there.”

Peter appears next to the shopping cart, with a smile and a handful of goodies. The goodies include a box of marshmallow filled cereal, various bags of chips, and more bags of candy than a Halloween treat bucket.

Steve looks at the junk food bounty with apprehension, but Peter looks back with doe-eyed innocence.

Steve sighs. “I think I liked it better when you were wearing the hood and sunglasses and couldn’t give me the puppy dog eyes.”

Peter tosses in the treats and leans in close to Steve’s earbuds. “Hey Mr. Stark. We’re having a blast at the supermarket. We wish you were here.”

Tony raises his voice so that Peter can hear through the earbuds, but Peter’s super hearing kind of makes that unnecessary. “Make sure Captain Heathy gets things other than wheatgrass and Brussel sprouts.”

Steve looks down at the piles of chocolate bars in the cart and smiles. “Yeah. Peter’s making sure that we won’t run out of junk food. I’ll talk to you later.”

Steve ends the call, and he heads to the produce aisle, with a less than thrilled Peter following behind.

Steve picks up an orange and turns it in his hand. “I’m not sure if this is a good one or not. It’s orange instead of green, but I think there’s more to it than that.”

Peter takes the fruit and holds his phone against it. “I have an app that rates food quality from one to ten. It says this one is an 8.”

Peter scans more fruits and vegetables, while Steve bags up the winners and loads them into the cart. It’s a good system and once they get a good rhythm going, Peter smiles. “Thanks for giving me a place to crash until Aunt May gets better.”

Steve tosses a fifth potato in the bag and twists its closed before tying a knot. “I’m sure that I speak for Tony as well when I say I was more than happy to do it.”

Peter scans a lemon and tosses it back on the pile when it scans as a 2. He looks at the pile of lemons as if his question is directed toward them. “Is Aunt May going to get better? Karen hacked into the machines at the hospital that Aunt May’s connected to, so she can tell me when there’s any change in her condition.”

Steve decides not to comment on the fact that Tony’s artificial intelligence programs are acting more and more like him. Steve instead offers the advice that he has given to soldiers time and time again. “We just have to take one day at a time. The most important thing we can do to help your Aunt is to keep fighting.”

Peter lifts his gaze from the citrus fruit, but he stops short before meeting Steve’s eyes. “I just feel so helpless, you know? What good are superpowers if I can’t use them to save the people I love?”

Steve takes a long sigh. He knew that eventually Peter would ask something that would put his parenting skills to work, but he was hoping it would be something simple like ‘why do I have to eat broccoli if Tony doesn’t have to?’, instead of ‘why do good people get hurt and there’s nothing I can do about it?’.

Peter’s eyes are already filling with tears, so the generic ‘life isn’t fair’ isn’t the response that Steve can go with. Instead, he chooses to speak honestly. “I’m the greatest solider ever created and when my best friend and fellow solider, Bucky, got captured, I asked the same exact thing that you did. Of all the soldiers that I marched with through enemy lines and brought back to base safely, the one guy that I couldn’t save was Bucky. Not only did I fail to bring him back, but he was brutally tortured for years and there was nothing I could do to stop it.”

Steve rolls a lemon on the top of the pile as he finishes. “As frustrating as that was, Buck needed me through his recovery and even now, when he has bad days, I’m there for him. The good thing about feeling helpless is that it’s only temporary. May is going to need a lot of help once she gets well enough to return home and I’m sure you’ll be able to make her feel safe, superpowers or not.”

Peter’s eyes are still filled with tears, but his face lights up in the same way that Steve’s soldiers from the past did.

Their tender moment is cut short by the booming voice of an Asgardian God. “Captain! What a pleasant surprise to see you procuring nourishment from this magnificent marketplace.”

Steve’s plan of riding under the radar is slowly falling apart. Thor had spoken loud enough for the entire supermarket to hear, but Steve keeps his voice low. “Hi Thor. I didn’t think you shopped for groceries.”

Thor’s booming laugh causes the stack of lemons to shake. “Normally your assumption would be correct, but Commander Fury proclaimed that I was becoming a potato of the couch and advised that I partake in productive activities, so here I am.”

Clint leans against the fruit display. “Fury isn’t stupid enough to send Thunder-boy into the wild without a chaperone, and yours truly drew the short straw.”

Peter tries to remain calm. The last time he saw Thor, the guy tried to kill him. “Are you Thor?”

Thor folds his massive arms over his chest. “I am indeed. And who are you?”

Peter’s eyes dart to Steve and the quick thinking military strategist clears his throat. “This is Tony’s nephew Peter. He’s staying with Tony for a while.”

Clint raises an eyebrow. “I thought Tony was an only child.”

Steve doesn’t miss a beat. “Tony’s father was a bit of a playboy. Peter’s dad has the same father as Tony, but not the same mother.”

Clint gives a warm smile to Peter. “I’m Hawkeye. It’s nice to meet you. I have to admit, you look familiar. Have we met before?”

Peter bites his lip and shakes his head.

Hawkeye shrugs. “Anyway, I’d like to stick around, but the quicker we get this done, the quicker I can go back to activities that don’t involve Thor.”

Thor looks at the list in his hand. “What are sanitary napkins?”

Clint groans. “They’re what Nat added to the list because she hates me. C’mon big guy, we have work to do.”

Steve is equally grateful that his identity is still unknown to the shoppers and Peter’s identity is unknown to his fellow Avengers, but Peter has other plans. He gives Steve the puppy dog eyes again. “Can we help Hawkeye and Thor shop? I’ve always wanted to hang out with the Avengers.”

Steve is about to remind Peter that he was just adopted by two members of the Avengers, but shrugs. “Why not? But if Thor tries to hand you his hammer, don’t fall for it.”

~~~

Meanwhile, in Stark Tower, Tony sits in his workshop with a cup of coffee in one hand and a wrench in his other hand. He’s holding a work tool, but his feet are up on the workbench and no work has been done for the last half hour.

There was a slim chance that he would do some work earlier in the day when he was alone, but now that Bruce has arrived, any chance of working on a project is long gone.

Bruce sits across from the rocket scientist and cracks his neck. “I can’t believe you adopted a kid. I remember when I gave you a plant last year as a Secret Santa gift and you freaked out saying that you were too young to be a father and it that it was too much responsibility. I think you gave yourself hives.”

Tony snorts. “First of all, that was a terrible gift. I’m not letting you off the hook for being the asshat that forgot to buy a present and just grabbed something random from your house to re-gift. Second of all, I’m just Peter’s temporary guardian. I can return him back to the store if I don’t like him anymore, which I couldn’t do with your sucky plant gift because you didn’t include a gift receipt.”

Bruce sighs. “Fine. I forgot to get a gift and I wrapped a plant I had lying around.”

Tony points his wrench at Bruce. “I knew it!”

Bruce rolls his eyes.

Tony brings the subject back to Peter. “So, you went to the hospital and checked on May?”

Bruce raises an eyebrow. “You owe me big time for that. I had to take the redeye last night from Mumbai, which was 20 hours on plane, next to a crying baby on one side and a guy that wanted to talk to me for all 20 hours on the other side. I’m surprised I didn’t Hulk out right there on the plane.”

Bruce shudders from the memory before he continues. “So after I got off the flight from Hell, I had to sneak into a hospital, pretend to be a doctor that actually works at said hospital, and read the chart of a comatose woman that did not give me permission to review her records.”

Tony takes a sip of coffee. “Should I break out the violin now, or do you have more ranting to do?”

Bruce scowls at his less than sympathetic friend, but his voice dips into the official tone of a doctor. “She’s not good Tony.”

Tony’s tone sobers as well. “I asked Peter how the accident happened, but he freaked out the last time I did it, so I’m not looking forward to repeating that scenario any time soon.”

Bruce winces. “Well, when I was disregarding all the sacred rules and oaths that I took as a doctor, I might have peeked at how the accident happened. In my defense, if I’m snooping on her case as her pretend doctor, I should at least know what happened so I can hypothetically diagnose her. According to her charts, she was the victim of a hit and run. She was walking along the crosswalk and a car decided that making a right turn was potentially more important than human life.”

Tony narrows his eyes. “Hit and run means that the owner of the car got away.”

FRIDAY chimes in. “If I may add something here. Peter had arrived at Stark Tower last night and for most of the night he asked me to pull up surveillance footage to find out who was responsible.”

Tony takes another sip of coffee. “Did you show him?”

FRIDAY speaks slowly. “If you’re asking if I showed an emotionally distraught teenager with superpowers, footage identifying who nearly killed the only living relative that he has – that would be a no, Boss.”

Bruce responds with a laugh, as FRIDAY continues. “I blurred out what I could and blamed it on global positioning interference and things such as that. I also promised him that I would use my software to clean up the image so that he could see it clearly, but that it would take time. That will stall him for a while, but he’s a bright kid. He’ll find out a way to access the information without my assistance if he thinks that I’m dragging my feet.”

Tony sighs. “You don’t have feet.”

“Right Boss. That’s the part of what I just said that you should focus on.”

Bruce leans back in his chair. “I’m guessing that you’re going to keep the identity of the driver hidden from us as well.”

FRIDAY doesn’t quite answer the question. “I think right now, Dr. Banner, your focus should be on the victim instead of the criminal. When everyone cools down, justice can be achieved. It would be counterproductive to Hulk smash the offender.”

Bruce cracks his neck again. “You’re right. As I was saying before, May’s injuries are severe. I’m confident that she’ll come out of the coma, but she’s got a long road of physical therapy ahead of her. A few of her vertebrae, along her spine are cracked almost all the way through. That’s not even considering the internal bleeding and organ damage. When she wakes up, I think we should move her to the medical unit in the Avengers Upstate Headquarters. I can treat her there.”

Tony runs his hand through his hair. “Ok. That sounds like a plan.” He lightens the mood. “You want to stay for dinner? Steve’s cooking.”

Bruce closes his eyes. “I just travelled halfway around the world at the drop of a hat. I assumed dinner was included.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter needed some bonding time with Steve :)


	7. The Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Tony-Peter-Steve family is doing well but they're missing one part. That part is May :)

Bad things never happen slowly. It’s always in an instant and you have little or no time to react. If you’re luckily, all goes well, but if you’re not lucky…..

Tony is sleeping soundly when all of a sudden, he’s jarred awake. His eyes shoot open. He can’t focus on the shadowy figure that’s standing in front of him, but his racing heart is telling him that the person is a threat. He reaches out his hand and the Ironman armor encapsulates his fingers, stopping at his elbow.

He opens his palm, directing the white light from his laser at the shadow. The bright light illuminates his target, but he already fires before he recognizes the intruder as Peter.

Before he can process what’s happening, he feels Steve push his arm down just in time to save Peter from a laser blast to the face. The laser hits the edge of the comforter and the floor instead, scorching both in the process.

Steve flicks on the light from the nightstand and everything looks a little clearer. Tony’s eyes dart to Steve and the rattled scientist can’t be more grateful for the super soldier that shares his bed.

Unfazed that he almost got blasted across the room, Peter starts waving his hands around animatedly. “Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark, we have to go! We have to go!”

Tony is too shaken up to respond, so Steve offers his partner the second assist of the night. “What’s wrong Peter?”

Peter shakes his head. “Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s right. She woke up. Karen just told me that Aunt May woke up. I have to go see her. She woke up and I wasn’t there, and she’s probably really upset, and, and –.”

Steve smiles. “That’s great news but you have to breathe, buddy. It’s going to be ok.”

“No it’s not. She’s all alone and she’s probably scared and thinks I forgot her, and I have to see her. I was going to use my spider powers and swing over to the hospital, but I think the Ironman suit will be faster.”

Tony takes a deep breath. “Kid, it’s 3 in the morning and I almost decapitated you. Maybe we should discuss that first?”

Peter grabs Tony’s wrist. “I probably would have ducked, but that doesn’t matter. C’mon, we have to go.”

Peter’s super strength easily drags Tony toward him, yanking him out of bed, but Tony protests. “Again, it’s 3 in the morning. They’re not going to let us in the hospital. Visiting hours are 9am until, well I’m not sure, but I’m positive it’s not until 3am.”

Peter sighs. “I don’t think I can wait that long.”

Karen joins the conversation. “May Parker is awake and doing well, Peter. I have passed a message to her nurse that you are aware that she is awake, and you will be there to visit first thing tomorrow. I can tell from your elevated heart rate and other vital statistic readings that you are unhappy and anxious, which leads me to believe that you are going to sneak out and camp outside of the hospital all night. I can assure you that Aunt May wouldn’t want that. She would want you to get a good night’s rest knowing that she is improving. A good night’s sleep will allow you to be more alert and attentive when you visit with her tomorrow.”

Peter shoulders slump down as he sulks. “Fine. Sorry I woke everyone up.” He looks up apprehensively. “We’re leaving first thing tomorrow, right?”

Tony nods. “Yup. We’ll head out bright and early.”

Peter smiles and heads out while talking to Karen. “So she’s awake, but is she talking? A lot of times people wake up and…”

Soon he’s too far away for Tony to hear the conversation anymore.

Tony puts a hand behind his neck and takes a long exhale. “Steve…”

Steve stops the apology before it even starts. “You should follow Karen’s advice and get some sleep.”

Tony closes his eyes and smiles. “Thanks for having my back.”

Steve clicks off the light. “That’s what I’m here for.”

The second time that Tony wakes up, it’s much calmer. The alarm goes off playing the annoying chiming bells sound, but the sound is gentle enough to ease Tony into morning consciousness. He grumbles as he reaches over to the nightstand so that he can hit the mute button, but he quickly remembers that he has an early morning drive to the hospital scheduled, and that’s the reason that his alarm is blaring.

He grumbles as he rubs his eyes, shuts off the alarm, and shakes Steve.

Steve grumbles into his pillow. “I’m awake. I just don’t want to move.”

Tony yawns and stretches. “You’ve got five minutes. I’m going to wake Peter up and when I come back you better be dressed.”

Steve grabs more covers to wrap around himself and turns away from Tony. “Yeah, whatever.”

Tony sighs as he slips on a robe and slippers, and shuffles over to Peter’s room. He doesn’t pick his feet up as he drags himself down the hallway.

When he reaches Peter’s room, Peter is already awake. He’s fully dressed, laying on top of the covers, staring at the ceiling.

Tony knocks on the doorframe. “Knock, knock. If you see any of your spider friends up there on the ceiling, tell them that I said hi.”

Peter’s eyes quickly shift to Tony. “Are you ready to – Mr. Stark! You aren’t even dressed.”

Tony leans against the doorframe. “Relax. Even if we leave in the next hour, we’re still going to get to the hospital way before visiting hours.”

Peter opens his mouth, but Tony holds up a hand. “And before you ask, the answer is yes, I could charm the worker that makes sure guests enter at the right time into letting us in early, but your Aunt is going through a rough time. She needs as much rest as she can get if she’s going to be able to handle the excitement of seeing you again.”

Peter angrily narrows his eyes because he knows Tony’s right, but he’s not happy about it.

Tony’s eyes scan the room, hoping that he can find something that will spark a little small talk, and then he sees it.

Tony raises and eyebrow and points at the chair in the corner of the room. He speaks slowly. “Peter? What is that?”

Peter follows Tony’s eye-line. “Oh, um, that’s um, that’s nothing.”

Tony frowns. “It looks like a BurgerTime uniform. Are you telling me that when Steve started the whole ‘let’s only eat healthy foods from the supermarket’ you had a direct line to sneak me back the best fries on the planet? I’m a little upset, kid.”

Peter blushes. “I didn’t want you to know that I work at fast food place. I’m kind of embarrassed. You’re a multi-millionaire genius and the CEO of the coolest company on Earth. I bet you never worked at a fast food place.”

“Correction, multi- _billionaire_ genius. And nope, can’t say that I have, but that doesn’t mean you should be ashamed of working at one. We all get our start somewhere. I’m sure that you’re just helping your Aunt make ends meet.”

Peter nods.

Tony sighs. “And while I would love for you to give me the French fry hookup at a time when Captain Rogers is acting like the food police, I know that you’re destined for things greater than a drive-thru afterschool job. And as you so accurately put it, I’m the CEO of the coolest company on Earth, and I happen to be in the market for an intern.”

Peter’s eyes go wide. “Are you offering me an internship?”

Tony nods. “I am. And I get it if you want to refuse. You’re living with me for the time being and it can kind of be an ‘all Tony all the time’ situation, and your current job gives you something that’s not connected to me or Steve. It’s like your own thing. I won’t be mad if you turn the offer down, I just wanted to put it out there.”

Peter face lights up. “I _absolutely_ want to work for you. You have the coolest tech ever! I can’t wait to tell Aunt May.”

Steve clears his throat.

He’s standing in the doorway, fully dressed, with an energy bar in one hand and a coffee in the other. “Are you two going to chit chat all day, because I don’t know about you, but I have a hospital to get to.”

The three pile into the car and start the journey to the hospital. There’s an impending thunderstorm, so the sun is hiding behind a wall of thick gray clouds and it’s almost as dark as night. Tony hates driving in the rain, so he drives as quickly as he can so he can try to outrun the looming storm.

Tony spends the drive trying not to kill anyone, because even at this early hour, the road is filled with morons and Tony seems to be encountering every single one of them.

Peter spends the ride typing onto his phone screen at a furious pace. To the average person it looks like he’s playing a videogame like most kids his age, but on closer inspection, he’s typing in computer code, trying to crack the security code that’s keeping him from seeing the blurred out license plate of the car that hit May. Peter hasn’t figured out that FRIDAY has put up a relatively complicated firewall to prevent him from solving that particular mystery.

FRIDAY can’t make the firewall too complicated because it will make Peter suspicious, and because of that, Peter has already found out the first letter of the mystery license plate.

Steve spends the ride trying to calm his own nerves. He doesn’t even notice Tony’s aggressive driving because the poor super solider’s anxiety is already at a ten. Whenever Steve has to enter a hospital he’s brought back to the painful memories of his childhood. He had seen enough hospitals for a lifetime when he was a kid, and just thinking about it, he can almost hear the beeping of machines and smell the disinfectant that filled the hospitals of his youth.

Steve sets his jaw and tries to relax.

When the three finally reach the hospital parking lot, Tony was right, they still have some time before visiting hours start.

Steve puts on his glasses and baseball cap. He had convinced Tony that even though the hospital would be fairly empty at this hour, especially the area that May is in, it’s still best to go in disguise.

Tony reaches into the glove compartment and takes out a pair of black rimmed glasses with a mustache and fake nose attached. He puts the joke glasses on. This gets a frown from Steve, but a laugh out of Peter.

Tony takes them off and replaces them with a pair of sunglasses. The shades make him look even more like Tony Stark, but it’s the best he can do.

They enter the hospital. Tony gives Peter his credit card and tells him to run wild in the gift shop.

When Peter is occupied with flowers, and bears, and bows, Tony focuses back on Steve.

Steve is pacing in small circles, and Tony can literally feel the anxiety radiating off of his boyfriend. “You ok, Steve?”

Steve briefly stops pacing for a moment. “I’ll be better when I’m not here. Not too fond of hospitals.”

Tony wants to continue the conversation, but when he sees that Steve’s hand is shaking ever so slightly, he decides to leave well enough alone.

Steve goes back to pacing and Tony busies himself with checking emails on his phone. He clicks on an email that says ‘get the money that you’ve always dreamed of in two easy steps’. Instead of the email opening up, FRIDAY’s voice rings through his earbuds. “You should know better than that. That has spam written all over it.”

Tony smirks. “Maybe I just wanted to say good morning to you, FRIDAY.”

“There’s better ways to do that than downloading a major virus, Boss.”

Tony tries to keep his voice low, even though the pacing super soldier next to him can hear every word. “How many visitors are in this wing?”

“You, Steve, and the kid are the only ones that are not either staff or patients.”

Steve lifts an eyebrow. “That’s a little odd.”

Peter interrupts by running over with a stuffed pink bear, a bouquet of flowers, and a buddle of _Get Well Soon_ balloons. “Hey, guys. It’s like, a minute to nine.”

The three head over to May’s room and Peter runs through the door. May is just as happy to see her energetic nephew and even though she can’t feel the bear hug that Peter gives her, she looks like the happiest woman in the world.

Tony and Steve wait outside the door to give Peter a little private time with his aunt. Steve uses this time to continue the prior conversation. “It’s a little odd that no one is here besides us and the workers. I noticed that all the other rooms that we passed on the way to May’s room are empty too.”

Tony leans against the wall. “It’s too bad that the only one with Spidey senses is on an emotional high right now. If there’s any danger right now, I’m sure he’s too preoccupied to sense it.”

Steve sees a nurse walking down the hall. He stops her. “Excuse me ma’am. Are there any other patients on this floor?”

The nurse smiles an unnatural smile. “All patients have been moved to another wing of the hospital. The patient that you are visiting will be moved when you are finished. You got here just before her relocation. You will be provided with her new room number when you leave.”

Steve smiles. “Thank you very much. I appreciate it.”

The nurse nods and continues walking down the hall.

Steve whispers to Tony. “It was faint, but she had a slight accent. It’s the subtle mix of German and Russian that I’ve only heard from HYDRA officers.”

“Whoa there. Pump the brakes. Is there a chance that she just has a German mom and a Russian dad and picked up the accent that way? There’s not always a NAZI around every corner.”

Steve shakes his head. “I noticed the cashier man at the gift shop had the same accent. I wrote it off as nothing, but I’m starting to think that something odd is going on.” 

Tony keeps his voice low even though the potential Nazi nurse is the only worker that walked down the hall since they got there. “Bruce says that we should move May to the medical section over at the Upstate Avengers Compound. Maybe we should make that move sooner rather than later.”

Steve glances at the security camera for a fraction of a second. “FRIDAY needs to disable the security footage, preferably all the power so I can move May from here to the basement. From there, we can make our way to the car without being detected. The elevator will probably be compromised when everything goes dark, so we’ll take the stairs. Let’s discuss the rest on the plan inside May’s room. It’s more secure.”

Tony and Steve walk into May’s room. Tony walks in with a smile. “I’m so happy you’re awake May.”

Steve closes the door behind them and walks over to the window, pulling down the shades.

Peter looks at Tony. “Is everything ok Mr. Stark?”

Tony shakes his head. “Steve thinks the hospital’s been compromised. We going to have to break your aunt out of here.”

May frowns. “I wish I could help. I don’t have any feeling below my neck, but the doctor said I would regain the feeling in my chest and arms later today.”

Tony raises an eyebrow. “Your spine was pretty mangled according to Bruce. You shouldn’t be feeling anything.”

May smiles. “I don’t. When I first woke up last night, I was completely paralyzed, but then this doctor came in and said he would put something in my IV to make me feel better. He got distracted before he got a chance to and I figured he would give it to me the next time I see him. He left the vial of medicine on the table over there.”

Tony picks up the small vial on the desk and mumbles into his Bluetooth. “FRIDAY, scan this vial. What was the good doctor going to inject her with?”

“Nothing that I know of Boss. That compound is not in any of my databases.”

Steve closes the blinds. “We’ve got to move now. FRIDAY, I’ll carry May. Once I have her, cut the lights and the security cameras for this floor. But before you do, check one more time to make sure there aren’t any patients on this floor. I don’t want you to turn off someone’s life support by accident.”

“As you wish. There are no patients on this floor. Turning off main power to this level… now.”

The room goes dark. Steve disconnects May from the machines as quickly as possible, and hoists her over his shoulder.

The group races over to the stairwell with the cover of darkness. They carefully descend down the dark staircase until they reach the basement.

FRIDAY gives the all-clear and they huddle in the storage area of the basement to regroup.

Steve switches to holding May bridal style so that she’s more comfortable. He scans the room. “FRIDAY, can we access the underground parking garage from here? That’s our best bet to get back outside and then to the car.”

“Affirmative. You can reach the parking garage from here, but there’s a lot of security. You’re not going to get through without a fight.”

Tony joins the conversation. “Yeah, well I’d like to see them take on Captain America and Ironman.”

Steve shakes his head. “There are too many civilians in the hospital to risk a fight. This floor my be empty but the hospital isn’t. Plus, we don’t know how deep HYDRA has control of the hospital.”

FRIDAY adds her two cents. “I can scan to tell you how many workers there are in the hospital, but there’s no way of knowing which ones are HYDRA and which ones aren’t.”

Peter looks around. “Are we trapped?”

Tony shakes his head. “I don’t think so. The basement should be connected to the ambulance dock. All we have to do is reach that dock and boost an ambulance.” He looks at Steve. “I don’t like driving in the rain, so you’re driving this time Sweetie.”

FRIDAY gives directions. “Head northwest and you’ll hit the ambulance dock. There are currently three people in that area. They are all armed.”

Tony looks at Steve. “We can handle three people.”

When they reach the ambulance dock, Steve hands May over to Tony, and the super solider uses his stealth skills to knock each of the guards out. He takes them out silently, one-by-one, making sure they don’t alert the others to his presence.

When they’re all immobilized, Steve waves the rest of the group through and they pile into the ambulance.

Steve is about to turn the key in the ignition when he hears German voices.

Steve’s hand freezes on the ignition. He hears footsteps approaching the medical truck and holds his breath. _Just keep walking. Don’t look in._

The footsteps stop and the talking begins again. Steve can understand a few key words here and there and he can tell that it’s a conversation between a man of a lower military rank speaking to a man of a higher rank. Steve has had enough of those conversations to know what they sound like in any language. The higher ranking officer always does the talking and the lower ranking officer does a lot of agreeing.

Steve’s most basic urge is to kill Nazis and defeat Hitler. It was what he was upgraded for. So holding onto a steering wheel and cowering in an ambulance is almost too much for him to handle.

He grips the steering wheel almost to the point of breaking it, as he mentally reminds himself that the mission is to get out without a huge fight. The safety of the people in the hospital are counting on it.

Steve takes a few slow breaths. It’s enough to curb his adrenaline and it also gives the HYDRA officers enough time to walk away.

Steve whispers. “FRIDAY is the coast clear?”

“Clear to Texas, Captain Rogers.”

Steve turns the key in the ignition, firing up the engine. “We don’t need to go all the way to Texas. Upstate New York is fine.”

“I deactivated the tracking chip in this vehicle so that we don’t attract any surprise visitors trying to cut our road trip short. It should be a smooth drive to the Upstate Headquarters. I’ve also alerted Dr. Banner to meet you there.”

“Thank you FRIDAY.”

“Anything for you Captain Cupcake.”

Steve laughs as he steps harder onto the gas pedal and the ambulance disappears into the rainy highway.

Tony is in the back of the ambulance with May and Peter. Tony had decided it was best to put May on the stretcher that was conveniently already set up of for her. Those are the perks when you carjack an ambulance.

May is sleeping soundly. Peter is sitting on one side of the bench across from her and Tony is sitting on the other. Peter is staring motionlessly at May. He isn’t even blinking at this point.

Tony tries humor. “I didn’t know spiders hibernate.”

Peter flinches and Tony remembers that he’s being reckless with Peter’s secret. Tony winces. “Sorry. I’m sure that May is out for the count, though. Even still, if she questions you, I’ll say that she’s on so much medication that she can’t trust what she hears.”

The ride continues with a few minutes a silence until Tony notices that Peter is shaking. Tony keeps his voice low this time. “Are you cold?”

Peter shakes his head. He doesn’t take his eyes off of May. “When my emotions get too crazy it kind of shorts out my spider senses. It happened that day when you found me in the hospital right after Aunt May was hit.”

Tony walks around the cramped space and sits next to Peter. He puts an EMT blanket around Peter’s shoulders. Peter wraps the warm blanket around him and starts to feel grounded immediately. Peter rests his head on Tony’s shoulder and Tony puts his arm around the kid.

Peter’s trembling dies down and Tony can feel the moment that every muscle in Peter’s body relaxes.

The silence returns for a few more minutes before Tony asks, “Are you asleep, Pete?”

The answer is soft. “No. Gotta watch Aunt May.”

Tony smiles. He knows that trying to convince Peter that he can close his eyes and let Tony worry about his aunt is a losing battle. Peter and Tony have stubbornness in common. There is no way Peter is going to let Aunt May out of his sight. It’s the reason that he was barely blinking before.

Tony looks at Peter’s aunt on the stretcher and smiles.

“We’ll watch her together, buddy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter will finally have everyone he cares about under one roof. I love his bond with May so there's no way I was going to leave her out of the family fun. As always, thank you so much for reading, commenting, and thanks for the kudos as well. I'm still blown away with all the words of encouragement and the love for the story. I still have a bit of editing left to do on the next chapters, but I think the whole story will be 10 or 11 chapters total depending on how I split the chapter breaks. The next chapter is really long and really emotional and I hope you will enjoy it :)


	8. Secrets

It’s been a month since Tony and his makeshift family moved into the Avenger Upstate Compound. It’s the best place for May to recover and since all the other Avengers are in Tony’s Midtown residence, the Stark-Parker-Rogers family has had a chance to bond in the picturesque atmosphere of the countryside.

It has taken Tony some time to adjust. His home away from home is the polar opposite of the city, so his midnight Thai food deliveries have been replaced by Steve’s home cooked meals. And the sounds of police car sirens, taxi cabs honking, and emergency vehicles whizzing by at all hours of the night have been replaced by the sweet lullaby of mother nature, or as Tony puts it “the soul crushing silence that is interrupted occasionally by random insects buzzing”.

Tony has also given up on any hope that his previous Midtown bachelor pad has survived his absence, despite numerous reassurances from Bruce that the other Avengers haven’t trashed the entire place yet.

The greatest adjustment for Tony has been his family life. The reason that they had to relocate centered around May’s rehabilitation. When they had first arrived, May was paralyzed and had no feeling from the neck down. Since then, she has been working diligently everyday to become stronger, and with a combination of the most advanced medical treatment in the world from Bruce, and the daily physical therapy that Peter has dutifully helped her with, she has regained control of her upper body and only has to use a wheelchair.

Bruce has assured the family that it’s going to take much more time for May to regain the ability to walk, but patience and hardwork should prevail eventually.

For Peter, the switch to country living wasn’t as relaxed and slow paced as it had been for Tony. The train ride to school is literally hours and even if he decides to web-sling to high school, it’s still too much effort, and the poor kid would be exhausted before he even reaches school (not to mention that he’s adamant about not telling May that he’s Spider-man so logistically he wouldn’t even be able to explain the quicker commute).

Peter eventually gave in to a compromise, after a great deal of arm twisting on Tony’s part, and the daily routine is the following:

Steve flies Peter in the Quinjet to Queens every morning. From there, Peter exits the plane from a spot far enough away from the school so that his classmates don’t see him exiting an Avengers aircraft. He attends school, does some afterschool Spider-man patrols, gets picked up by Steve again, tries to finish his schoolwork on the plane ride back, grabs a snack from the kitchen while running to May’s room to help her with her physical therapy, has family dinner during which he desperately tries to avoid answering ‘how was school’ and ‘did you do anything interesting today’, and then ends the day by falling asleep at the desk in his room over a pile of unfinished homework.

The weekends vary in the fact that the school part of the schedule is replaced with working with Tony in the lab, and Peter tries as hard as he can to get Steve to take him into the city to patrol, because as Peter puts it ‘crime doesn’t take the weekend off’. This argument only works about 50% of the time.

But for today’s Saturday dinner, Peter is more than happy to have a relaxing meal with his family.

Tony is sitting at the dining room table with his laptop open and Peter is sitting across from him with his nose buried in a Chemistry textbook.

Tony’s fingers are flying across the keys as father and son work on their separate projects, with the same level of intensity. The pre-dinner working session is interrupted by May entering the room. She rolls her wheelchair into the dining room and Tony gives her a greeting. “How’s it going Speedy?”

May parks the wheelchair next to the table and returns Tony’s greeting. “I can’t complain. How are you?”

Tony glances at the screen and then back at May without slowing his typing. “Oh, you know. I’m just running a multibillion dollar company single-handedly from a place that’s so remote, it might as well be Old McDonald’s farm.”

Peter rushes to his feet as he grabs his phone from his pocket. “Oh my god, Aunt May, is it time for your physical therapy? I didn’t hear my alarm go off and my phone’s not on silent mode so if it went off I should have hear it. I just got involved with homework and I guess I lost track of time. Im so sorry, I -.”

May smiles. “Pete, it’s fine. You aren’t late for anything and I’ve told you a million times that you need time to take care of your own responsibilities. I told that nice robotic woman FRIDAY to cancel your alarm and I did my exercises today without being a burden to you.”

Peter shakes his head. “You dropped everything to raise me, the least I can do is help you recover. And I never see it as a burden, I’m happy to help. You know that I love you Aunt May.”

Aunt May puts a hand on Peter’s cheek. “I love you too Pumpkin, but I don’t want you to overwork yourself.”

Steve carries two plates of dinner from the kitchen and nods. “May has a point. Work stuff comes off the table during dinner. You know the rules.”

Peter packs his school books back in his backpack as Steve puts a plate of lasagna, garlic bread, and broccoli in front of May and Peter.

Tony continues to type and Steve gives him the side-eye. “Tony…”

Tony’s fingers move a little faster across he keyboard. “I’m almost done writing this paper. Remind me why I thought it was a good idea to procrastinate writing this paper until the last minute?”

Steve returns with their two plates and Tony reluctantly closes his laptop and gives Steve a wink. “This looks delicious, Babe. I’m going to have to start calling you Captain Chef.”

Steve sits down, preparing to dig into his meal. “Of all the nicknames you’ve come up with, that has to be the least creative.”

Tony wiggles his eyebrows. “I save my creativity for the bedroom.”

Steve blushes and quickly changes the subject. “Um, Peter, how was school today?”

Peter shrugs. “It was ok, I guess.” He pushes the broccoli around on his plates as he adds, “I failed my Trigonometry test today.”

May is the first to chime in. “You what?”

Peter looks at his disappointed Aunt and bites his lip. “It’s not my fault. I was totally acing the test, but I kind of fell asleep halfway through and if you fall asleep it’s an automatic zero. It’s not too bad though. My teacher says I can take a makeup test, but it’s going to be like, twice as hard as the original.”

Tony points a fork at Peter. “That teacher sounds like a hard ass. You want me to call the school and make the problem go away?”

May clears her throat.

Tony changes course. “I mean, as your stand-in father, I will not use my rich guy superpowers to make all of your problems go away.”

May clears her throat again and Tony continues. “Um, because this is a teachable moment. You can’t cut corners when it comes to hard work. Don’t do drugs and stay in school.”

May rolls her eyes. “You were so close Tony.” She directs her attention to Peter. “This is what I was worried about when I said that you need to spend less time worrying over me and more time taking care of yourself. After dinner I want you to go to bed early.”

Peter opens his mouth to protest, but May shakes her head. “Peter Benjamin Parker. You are going to your room and directly to bed after dinner. Do I make myself clear young man?”

Peter sighs. “Yes Ma’am.”

Tony whistles. “That was pretty impressive. Let me try. Steven… hmm, what’s your middle name?”

Steve takes forkful of lasagna. “Grant.”

Tony proceeds. “Steven Grant Rogers -.”

“You forgot the Captain part.”

“Captain Steven Grant Rogers, you will… you will… hmm, you kind of do everything I ask.”

Peter laughs. “That was a fail Mr. Stark.”

Tony turns his attention to Peter. “Ok wise guy. Peter Benjamin Parker…”

Peter swallows hard.

Tony tries to sound as commanding as May. “I’ve told you a billion times, kid, that you don’t have to call me Mr. Stark. I know that you can call me Tony. I’ve heard you do it before. You don’t call Steve, Mr. Rogers. You call him Cap, right?”

Peter looks back at Tony and for some unknown reason, the kid is blushing. Peter’s response does the voice crack that only makes an appearance when he’s nervous. “What do you want me to call you?”

Tony chest tightens. He’s intention was to make Peter comfortable calling him Tony or even Dad, but now the kid is looking back at him like he’s about to have a mini panic attack.

Tony uses sarcasm to break the tension. “Well Daddy is off the table. I only let Steve call me that.”

The tension breaker works as May tries to stifle a giggle with a cough.

Steve turns redder than the lasagna. “ _My god Tony_! I have never once called you that!”

Tony smiles. “Yeah, I know, but I just wanted you to get all pink and flustered, like you are right now.”

Steve stands up, picks up his plate, and makes sure to scowl at Tony. “I need to tend to something in the kitchen. Will you come with me Pete?”

Peter follows Steve into the kitchen, leaving May and Tony alone.

Tony leans back on his chair. “Eventually I’m going to push it too far and he’s going to un-boyfriend me one of these days.”

May laughs. “Tony Stark taking things too far? Now that would be a first. But on a serious note, I think that was the first time I have ever heard you call him your boyfriend.”

Tony looks down at the plate and plays with his broccoli the same way that Peter did earlier. “I try not to do it too much. I don’t give a damn about what people think about my relationships, but Steve is still stuck in the whole 1930’s/1940’s mentality, so I keep quiet to respect that. I’m actually pretty good at keeping secrets.”

Tony glances at the kitchen door, remembering that he’s helping another person he cares about hide a secret. He goes back to his train of thought. “But if I’m being honest, our relationship is the worst keep secret when it comes to the team. I’m 100% positive that all the other Avengers know. We’re all just kind of humoring him. I was only successful in convincing Steve to tell _you_ because we basically kidnapped your kid.”

May smiles. “Trust me, Mama Bear wouldn’t have let you kidnap her cub. But like it or not, he’s not _my_ kid, he’s _our_ kid now.”

The words _our kid_ hit Tony so hard he forgets how to speak for a minute.

May continues to talk, but Tony can’t hear it. His own questions are swirling around too loudly in his head. The loudest one being; _Why do I care about Peter so much? What’s so special about him?_

The logical answer is that Peter saved his life and Tony feels grateful for that, but using that same logic, Hawkeye took a bullet a few times for Tony, and Tony’s heart doesn’t flutter at the idea of Hawkeye calling him Dad.

May knocks Tony out of his trance by putting a soft hand on his shoulder. He flinches as he always does at unexpected human contact, but he doesn’t pull away from the warm hand on his shoulder. Instead he smiles to himself at how comforting it feels. Kind of like when Peter does it. Tony concludes that it must be a Parker thing.

May follows the warm gesture with a warmer smile. “I appreciate what you’re doing for me and Peter. Even if you’re terrible at being a father.”

Tony can’t help but laugh. “I’m happy to help. I have no parenting skills and I can barely take care of myself, let alone another human being, but I have a lot of money so its fine. Steve and I will help until you get back on your feet. Pun intended.”

Tony watches as May looks over his shoulder and her face lights up. “What is this?”

Peter is carrying a cake that looks very sad and very homemade. It’s smeared with vanilla frosting and there’s a single lit candle on top. Peter puts the cake on the table. “This is for you Aunt May. Me, Cap, and some rich guy, thought that you deserved a cake on your one month anniversary of coming here. We’re all so proud of you because you were like, completely paralyzed when you got here and now you’re, um, you’re not.”

Peter leans down so he can give May a hug, and gives her a kiss on the cheek. “Cap told me that only birthday cakes have candles, but it’s your one month anniversary so I told him this cake needed a candle.”

Steve leans over and gives May a kiss on the opposite cheek. “He addressed me as Captain Steven Grant Rogers, so I couldn’t say no.”

May ruffles Steve’s hair. “You boys are too cute.”

The four proceed to eat the entire cake in one sitting. Peter defends their greediness with stating the fact that he’s still a growing boy and that Steve is a super solider with a super soldier’s metabolism.

Tony pours himself a glass of scotch and nudges his head in the direction of Peter’s bedroom. “Ok Underoos, the adults are going to start drinking, so it’s lights out for you.”

Peter gives May a kiss goodnight and turns to leave, but Tony’s phone rings. Tony looks at the caller ID. “It’s Nat. I wonder why she’s calling. FRIDAY, answer and put it on speaker.”

Natasha’s voice comes through the phone speakers. “Tony, are you there?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

Natasha sighs. “Look, I need you to do me a favor. Clint’s birthday is tomorrow and I completely forgot until just now, so I’m trying to get some people together for a surprise party. He’s always whining about how no one recognizes him when we go out in public and how he’s the least popular Avenger because some magazine ranked him last in an Avenger poll. Whatever that even means.”

Tony laughs. “I remember that. He got pissed because Bucky ranked higher than him and he isn’t even an official Avenger.”

“Yeah, I vaguely remember that. Anyway, I’m trying to get a group to head over to that Sports Bar place that he loves and we can hang out and tell him that we’re glad he was born. I was hoping you could come by with Steve and bring the kid and his aunt.”

Tony takes a moment to review. The only ones that know Peter Parker’s real identity and the fact that he’s Spider-man are him, Steve, and Bruce. May knows who Peter is, obviously, but not that he’s Spider-man. Steve had told Thor and Clint that Peter is Tony’s nephew, so all of the Avengers are under the impression that Tony has adopted his fake nephew to help out his fake sister-in-law May. But that’s different than the list of people that know Steve has also adopted Peter. Bucky is Cap’s best friend so he, like Bruce, knows that Steve and Tony have jointly adopted Peter as a couple, but unlike Bruce, Bucky thinks that Peter is Tony’s nephew because he doesn’t know that Peter’s Spider-man, and it would be odd for Steve and Tony to adopt a random 15 year old out of the blue.

Tony rubs his forehead. It’s a good thing that he’s a genius because it’s going to take a genius to keep all of this straight.

Natasha’s voice pulls him away from the Spider-man web of lies. “Tony? Are you still there?”

Tony looks at Steve and mouths the words. _“You wanna go?”_

Steve nods and Tony directs the question to the two Parkers. May and Peter nod and Tony speaks back into the phone. “We’ll be there. Text me all the info and I’ll have FRIDAY schedule it so I don’t forget.”

By the time he looks back at Peter, the kid is fast asleep, face down on the table.

Tony picks up Peter and hoists him over his shoulder with a grunt. “This would have been so much easier before you ate half a cake.”

Peter mumbles against Tony’ shoulder. “We all split it.”

Tony carries the groggy kid down the hallway. “If you’re awake, you shouldn’t be dead weight. Help me out a little kid.”

Peter slurs his words in a barely conscious response. “I’m half asleep. And don’t call me a little kid.”

Tony snorts. “You’re not half asleep, you’re just half-assed. And I didn’t call you a little kid, I said ‘help me out a little, comma, kid.”

Peter laughs against Tony’s shoulder. “Cap doesn’t like it when you use those words.”

“You know, for someone who’s half asleep, you’re pretty quick with the comebacks.”

Peter continues to mumble. “I’m not sure if I’m tired or if I’m going into diabetic shock from the sugar rush of eating an entire cake.”

“I though you said we all split the cake?”

Peter laughs. “Lets be real. I ate most of that cake.”

When they reach Peter’s room, Tony lays him down on the bed. Tony is about to pull the covers over Peter, but the kid turns the wrong way and a shot of webbing shoots out of Peter’s web-shooter and onto Tony’s hand.

That’s enough to make Peter instantly alert, as adrenaline surges through his body. Peter sits up straight. “I can’t believe that just happened? Are you ok? I left my web shooter on my wrist so I would remember to switch it out for another one before I went to bed because it’s running low and if one shooter is a quarter of the way full and the other is totally full then - wait. I shot you. Are you ok?”

Tony cringes at the amount of sticky substance covering his hand. “I always forget how gross this feels, but it could be worse. This could have come from your nose.”

Peter scurries over to his backpack and digs for a can of the quick dissolving spray so that Tony’s hand won’t be stuck in a webbed fist for long.

Tony looks at the gooey blob encasing his fingers. “How long does this stuff take to naturally dissolve?”

Peter finds the spare can and gives it a shake. “Um, after about an hour it solidifies completely and dissolves into dust. When I gift wrap some of the criminals for the police I usually leave a note so they know.”

Peter sprays Tony’s webbed hand and the substance instantly solidifies. Tony opens his hand from a fist, and the solid webbing turns to dust and dissolves into thin air.

Tony’s science face appears as he mumbles to himself. “That’s a compound that I haven’t seen before.”

Peter yawns. “I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. We need something to talk about on the plane ride to Manhattan. I think Clint’s party is gonna be fun.”

Tony raises an eyebrow. “Maybe, but no more cake for you. I think a 24 hour cake fast is in your future. Now lay down and get some sleep, before May comes in here and we’re both in trouble.”

Peter looks at Tony for a extended moment and takes a deep breath. He continues to look at Tony with a look the billionaire genius doesn’t recognize. “Good night Dad.”

The room isn’t dark at all so it’s easy to see that the tips of Peter’s ears are red and his face is pretty flushed.

Tony blinks. “Why was that so strained and awkward?”

Peter bites his lip. “I’m really nervous. I never thought I’d call anyone Dad. It’s kind of like, I lost mine so long ago and I’m fifteen, so I never really though I’d be calling anyone Dad ever again. It feels really weird.”

Tony smirks. “Maybe you can blame the weird feeling on low blood sugar, or high blood sugar. I’m not sure which one you get if you binge on sugar.”

Peter dodges the deflection by keeping his eyes locked on Tony. “Every time I call you Dad, I want to cry. I don’t know if it’s because I’m sad about the one I lost or I’m happy about the one I gained.”

Tony honestly doesn’t know what to say, but he’s bailed out when Peter looks away and lays back down. It’s a quick motion, but not quick enough for Tony to miss the tears that escape Peter’s eyes.

Tony spares Peter from embrassement by pretending not to see them as he turns off the light and smiles to himself. He’s starting to realize what makes Peter so special. It’s not just one thing. It’s everything.

~~~~~

Peter tries not to fidget as Tony finishes the final loop on his tie. Tony stands back to take a look at his work. “Perfecto.”

Peter loosens the tie so that he can breathe. “I’m not sure why I can’t wear a clip-on tie.”

Tony tightens the tie again. “Because I don’t own any clip-on ties. Every tie that I have was a gift from someone that didn’t know what else to buy. A tie is the perfect gift to buy for the guy who has everything, or if you’re too lazy to figure out what he wants.”

Peter continues the back-and-forth by loosening the tie again. “Is that what you bought Hawkeye for his birthday?”

Tony looks that the rectangular shaped gift on the table next to him. “Um, no. There’s totally not a tie in there.”

Peter looks in the floor-length mirror and it takes a moment for him to recognize himself. His normal wardrobe consists entirely of thrift store clothes and second-hand shoes. It’s rare that he has anything new, whether it be clothes, school supplies or even his Spider-man equipment. Most of the parts for his suit and his computer have come from rummaging through the trash. Peter usually convinces himself that he’s not dumpster-diving, he’s just recycling. He’s always surprised at how many awesome things people throw out.

Despite all those signs, he never really considered himself poor. He knows that he’s the “scholarship kid” at his prestigious high school, but he focuses on the pride of being smart enough for a full scholarship rather than the fact that he would never be able to afford going to the school.

Peter tries to focus back on the present, because he daydreams far to much, but he’s still bothered by the image staring back at him in the mirror. The ‘new Peter’ is wearing a blue dress shirt, a black satin tie, and black dress pants.

Tony’s reflection appears in the mirror as he walks up to Peter and puts a hand on the kid’s shoulder. “Is everything ok, Pete? Usually, I’m the one that stares at himself in front of the mirror for long periods of time.”

Peter shrugs. He wants so badly to say that wearing the expensive clothes that Tony gave him makes him feel even poorer than wearing his thrift store hoodie. He wants to say that the last time he wore a suit was at his Uncle Ben’s funeral, so it’s bringing back bad memories. Instead, he goes with something less emotional. “The party is at a Sport Bar. I think we might be overdressed.”

Tony’s arms reach around Peter and Peter’s heart skips a beat. It’s like Peter doesn’t need to say the words for Tony understand that he’s upset. Peter closes his eyes, not sure if he can handle a dad hug while his thoughts are on his Uncle.

Peter feels Tony tightening the tie and realizes that this hug is not a hug at all. The non-existent hug is followed by Tony ruffling Peter’s hair. “If you think this is too formal, just wait until you have to wear full penguin suits to board meetings. Being an adult sucks.”

Peter tries to fix the damage that Tony’s hair ruffle inflicted. “Sure Mr. Stark, but how would you know what being an adult is like?”

Cap laughs from the doorway. “C’mon you two. May is in the jet and we’re waiting on you.”

The four arrive by private jet on the roof of the restaurant and Peter feels even more out of place than he did earlier. Unfortunately Hawkeye is there to greet them wearing a t-shirt and jeans and Peter continues to feel out of place.

Hawkeye seems to sense Peter’s feelings better than non-hugging Tony, because he gives the kid a warm smile. “Thanks for coming. You look good, kid.”

Peter takes a deep breath because the whole Avengers team is looking at him. “Happy birthday Hawkeye.”

Peter hands Hawkeye the gift and Hawkeye’s eyes light up. The birthday boy even stutters a bit. “You, um, you d-didn’t have to get me anything.”

Tony puts a hand on Hawkeye’s shoulder. “Of course I did. I wouldn’t want you calling me a cheap bastard.”

Hawkeye laughs. “Always thinking about yourself, Stark. C’mon in guys.”

The party is in full swing and Peter starts to relax. He still makes sure to call Tony, Uncle Tony because most of the guests think Peter is Tony’s nephew. He also tries to remember that Steve is just a friend of Tony’s because Steve’s ‘secret’ is just as important as his.

The hardest thing to remember is that he can’t let on that he has superpowers. It takes him a second to remember to say ouch when Thor punches his arm a little harder than a normal person can handle. He also almost slips when a glass falls off the table and he catches it with quick spider reflexes. He covers up the super-speed movement by saying that he’s actually really good at magic tricks. This leads to him entertaining Thor with the penny behind the ear trick.

After Thor tells him to do the trick for the third time, Peter can’t help but laugh. “Thor, your brother has ACTUAL magic. This is just a lame trick.”

Thor convinces Peter to do the trick one more time before heading back to the bar to get another drink.

Peter takes a minute to take in the atmosphere.

Natasha didn’t book the restaurant for a private party so there are people around that aren’t superheroes, well other than May, but for some reason it’s not weird. The ‘normal’ people know that they are in a place with the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but no one seems to care.

A random guy is trying to buy Natasha a beer at the bar.

Thor is telling one of the bartenders about the next Lunar eclipse and what it means to all the different realms. Thor’s telling his story with a look of dire importance and exaggerated arm movements.

Falcon is playing darts with Bruce on his team. The two superheroes are completely owning the two regular people that they’re playing against.

Bucky has arrived late and he’s holding a rather large gift, tucked under one arm. He’s giving Hawkeye a friendly elaborate secret handshake with his free metal hand.

Peter feels like his two worlds are coming together in perfect synergy, but his legendary Parker luck makes sure that the feeling is fleeting.

All of the TV screens in the Sports Bar increase in volume and a news reporter flashes on the screen. She’s looking into the camera with a look of pure terror. It’s safe to assume that someone is holding her at gunpoint from the other side of the camera.

The woman’s voice quivers. “I-I am being told that there is a s-special announcement that needs to made. A source close to me, in fact a source that is right in front of me has told me that we have breaking news.”

A muffled man off-camera yells, “Hurry up,” so she continues.

“Yes. So I am being told that the identity of Spider-man has been discovered. His name is Peter Parker. He attends Midtown High school. He is fifteen years old, and he lives with his Aunt, May Parker at…”

Peter’s heart beat is pounding too loudly in his ears to hear the reporter broadcast his address across the entire tri-state area.

He feels every muscle in his body begin to shake, and then a picture of him fills the television screen. His superhearing compensates for the initial deafening shock and he can hear the words ‘our graphics department has obtained this picture’.

His superhearing also picks up on Tony softly addressing Peter. “Peter…?”

Peter stumbles backward and hits a table because his balance is thrown off and his spatial awareness doesn’t register that he’s even on planet Earth, let alone aware enough to avoid the table behind him.

He hears his own voice repeating the word “no” over and over again. Each time with a growing desperation, until finally the word gets stuck in his throat.

His vision is blurred from tears that he has miraculously prevented from falling, and from the dizziness that is consuming him. He’s eyes are fixed on the television that has just single-handedly destroyed his life.

He hears Tony’s voice again. “It’s ok. I can fix this.”

Peter sees that Tony is coming in for a real hug this time, but Peter can’t let him. The air is rushing through his lungs too fast to control. He’s in the middle of a severe panic attack.

Peter pushes Tony away but his senses are on overdrive and the light push isn’t as light as he intends and Tony goes flying across the room and skids over the bar counter. Thankfully Steve is there to grab him so he doesn’t slam into the glass bottles that are lined up against the back wall.

Peter tries to apologize, but the air coming into his lungs feels like the shards of glass on the floor from when Tony knocked against a few glasses that were on the counter.

Peter grabs his chest and falls to his knees. At this point, no air is going through and as much as his mind is telling him that he would be better off dead, he doesn’t actually want to die.

Bruce kneels next to him. “Pete, it’s alright. You have to focus.”

Peter tries to follow doctor’s orders, but it isn’t working and he starts to panic even more.

He manages to gasp out a weak “ _help_ …” before tears are the next thing that betray him. If it isn’t embarrassing enough that he’s fighting against his own body and losing, he can add crying in front of his childhood heroes to the list of terrible things that have happened today.

Steve replaces Bruce and tilts Peter’s head to look at him. The last thing Peter wants to do is look at anyone, but few people are able to defy an order from Captain America, even if it’s just tilting his head up.

Peter sees nothing reflecting back in Steve’s eyes other than calm and focus. Everything in the background disappears and Steve is the only thing that exists. Steve’s words are slow and measured. “I need you to breathe. I know that your heart feels like it’s exploding out of your chest, but it’s not. I won’t let it. I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”

Peter forces an artificial deep breath so he can voice his fears, if only for a breath. “Help me Dad…”

For the first time Steve’s razor focus wavers. Peter sees the super solider’s eyes get cloudy, but Steve blinks the tears away as quickly as they had gathered, and nods.

Peter wheezes a slow breath in and ignores the pain. Each breath is a little easier than the last, and a little less painful, until Peter he has a rhythm that is almost automatic.

Peter’s enhanced hearing picks up what Steve is saying. It’s low enough for only them to hear. “I know what it feels like to have secret that you’re terrified to tell people about, especially people that are close to you. I can’t imagine what it would feel like if what just happened to you happened to me, but Tony and I will be here to help you through it, as I imagine you will be there to help me, when the time is right to tell my secret.”

Peter smiles. “Thank Da- .”

Steve cuts him off with a smile. “If you call me that again, I’m seriously going to have a breakdown.”

Peter puts a hand over his chest because it’s still painful every time he breathes. Because of this he opts to nod instead of giving a verbal response.

Steve guides Peter to his feet and helps him sit at the nearest table.

Aunt May’s voice gets Peter’s attention. “Sweetie. It must feel better now that you got that off of your chest.”

Peter feels his chest getting tighter as he remembers that everyone everywhere knows his secret. It must be trending on the internet by now. So much for going back to school, or even leading a normal life.

Aunt May gives him a kiss on the cheek. “And if you’re curious, I had absolutely no freakin’ idea you were Spider-man.”

Peter smiles. At least he did that right.

Peter doesn’t need to look up to sense Tony sitting down on the chair across from him.

Peter bites his lip. “Mr. Stark, I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to. I-I d-d-don’t…”

Tony is always patient to not interrupt when Peter starts to stutter, but Peter really wishes right now that his mentor would say something, because he’s not sure of he’ll be able to ever finish the sentence.

After a long stretch of silence Tony sighs. It’s not an impatient sigh, it has something else behind it, causing Peter to look up.

Tony has his sunglasses on, the pair that Peter had insisted that he buy because Peter had claimed the one’s Tony let him borrow as his own.

Tony clears his throat. He uses the unemotionally attached voice that Peter has heard him use countless times when talking to business associates on conference calls. “FRIDAY has informed me that the people that hacked into my suit when we first met, used that suit to download information about who you were. They used that information to target your Aunt May and hit her with a car. They also worked with HYDRA officials to try to kill her in the hospital and when they realized that trying to kill your only living relative to get you to turn on me wasn’t going to work, they decided to out your secret.”

Peter tries to take it all in. “They went after me and Aunt May to get to you?”

The emotion creeps back into Tony’s voice. “That was the plan. It’s all my fault Peter. The thing you feared most happened because of me, and it’s all… all of it, it’s my fault. You trusted me and this is what happened. I don’t know what I was thinking. I should have backed away. I was getting to close and now you’re the one that… My god Peter, I thought I could, I don’t know, be a dad to you and this is what I let happen. This is what I _fucking let happen_!”

Peter shakes his head. “It’s not your fault.”

“Don’t! Don’t you dare say that. You asked me for one thing. One damn thing for as long as I’ve known you, you’ve only asked me to keep your secret and because of me you can’t even…” He slams his hand on the table and Peter can see that it’s bleeding, probably from when he pushed him. “…You can’t even go back to your house! And it’s all because of me, Peter. _Me!_ ”

Peter looks back at Tony, not saying a word.

Tony’s anger increases. “For Christ sake kid, say something. Yell at me. Call me an asshole. I deserve it. Why the hell aren’t you yelling at me?!”

Peter wants to call Tony exactly that. He wants to scream at him for putting his aunt in danger and he wants to say that he wishes he had never met him.

He tries to hold back the anger, but it’s swelling inside of him. The pent up anger goes right to his stomach and anger turns to feeling sick.

He doesn’t want to add throwing up in front of Ironman to his highlight reel of lowest moments, so he quickly pushes away from the table and heads straight for the bathroom. He shuts the door behind him and locks it before leaning over the sink and ridding his body of all the celebration food that this day was originally about.

The door is fairly thin so Peter’s sure that his sickness is being broadcast through the door as easily as his life story had been broadcast over the television.

The sickness that’s flowing out of him makes him feel equally relieved and disgusted and when its all over, he rinses out his mouth, splashes water on his face and walks to the door.

His hand shakes as he reaches for the doorknob and instead of turning the knob, he turns his back on the door, leans against it and slides down to the floor. He hangs his head and cries into his hands.

He hates himself for being angry at Tony. He’s angry that he wants to yell at Tony. He wants to scream at him for being such a disappointment and for failing at the one job that he gave the man.

He cries harder because he knows that if he had stayed at the table for a second longer that he would have punched Tony. He would have knocked him - no… no he wouldn’t have. The sadness that he had felt when he accidentally knocked Tony into the bar proves that even though he’s angry, Peter isn’t as angry as he thinks.

He’s mad at his Dad just like every other kid that’s had an argument with their father. If Peter had ever questioned it before, he knows it now. He never would have yelled Mr. Stark, but his Dad? He can call his Dad an a-hole.

Peter’s newfound realization is interrupted by the TV hanging from the wall across from him. The story about Peter being Spider-man is apparently on a news loop.

Peter glares at the television, slightly confused as to why there’s a television in the restroom in the first place, but then he notices the fear in the news reporter’s eyes. A superhero can’t ignore someone in danger. He has to pick himself up off the restroom floor, and make sure that no one gets hurt. He has a job to do.

He knows he has to put his feelings aside and join the other Avengers to take down the threat. He just needs to let himself have one last cry before he does it.

He cries for the life he’s lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that happened, lol. This was the hardest chapter to write because I hate when Peter and Tony fight, but it had to be done. I can't upload this Tuesday because Christmas was crazy and I let too many non-writing things pile up, but I'll have the next chapter up on Saturday. We're nearing the end so there will be a lot of drama, but also Irondad fluff because fluff is my weakness. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, or a happy holiday if you celebrate something different, and if you didn't celebrate anything at all, I hope you had a great day :) Thanks as always for taking the time to read, leave kudos, or comment.


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